School Time Again.

OMG! Where the heck did the summer go.  We still have the heat, so know it was here...still here for many weeks to come actually.  School starts tomorrow for my youngest daughter Miss Zebra.

She starts the first day of her last year in school.  Well, public school anyway.  She is now officially a senior high student.  She plans to attend a local college and become a neonatal nurse.

I have been cleaning like crazy and not feeling like I am getting anywhere.  But, I have swept the living room, dining room and kitchen, along with hall.  I will mop it all later this evening when there is less traffic running through.  I also cleaned up my kitchen.

This past week, I once again was keeping my grand son.  Man did I miss that little guy while his mom was on maternity leave, and while we were on vacation, and while they were on vacation. I know, terrible run on sentence. I was also lucky enough to keep the baby girl two days this last week as well.  WOW! what a learning experience.  I never had two little ones together, spaced my bunch out a bit more.  Any way was glad that Miss Zebra was home to help out.  I am doing a little shuffling with the furniture in the rooms so am hoping that will help make things a little easier for me on the days I have both the little ones.  Part of the...awkwardness...of the flow of the house now is that youngest son, Mr. College, and his cat are staying with us until his school starts back up.  He will be here until later part of September.

Now that baby is here, vacation is done, I hope that hubby comes through and we actually get to start on the kitchen remodel.

This is the before photo.  I know it looks fine, but it really does not flow well.  And...while it looks like it has a lot of storage, the majority of the cabinets are too small to hold much. 

I have got to work hard on my sewing room this week, am putting a twin bed in it for Mr. College to sleep on while he is here.  I first thought that I would just put it in storage when he went back to school but after thinking about it, have decided that I will leave it for the grandbabies to nap on.  And...if hubby's snoring keeps up, may just sleep there myself. LOL

Oh you know I couldn't resist recent photos of my grands.

These two are my oldest daughter's two sons, they live in West Texas.

 This is oldest grand son, Mr. T.  He is ten, likes baseball and ice cream. He came to visit for a few weeks, went on vacation with us as well.

This is Mr. T's little brother, Mr. W.  He is three and likes dinosaurs, cheeseburgers, queso and baseball.

These two are my oldest son's two children.  They live here in the same town as we do and I am fortunate enough to be able to care for them during the week day while their parents work.

 This is Mr. M.  He is two and loves little animals, big animals, any stuffed animal.  Can't find anything that he really likes to eat though, very hard to feed him.  He loves his new sister though, very gentle and loving with her.

 

And, last but by no means least, this is Miss C.  One month old in this photo.  Not sure what she will like, but so far she loves to eat and be held.  A little spoiled to being held actually, but I will work around it.  How can you not hold a new baby?  LOL

Well, I am off to do a little more cleaning and then try to sit down and work on the menu plans.  Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment, I like knowing if any one actually pops in.

Well, well, well!

It has been exactly a month since I posted.  That is truly pitiful.  I must work on posting a little bit more often.

On a good note, everyone is finally well.  Hubby surprised me with an impromptu trip to Las Vegas since Miss Zebra was out of school for Easter break...yes they still call it that here.  Mr. College wondered home for a visit as well, as his college was having their Winter Break...what they call it...at the same time.  We had  good Easter, I hope all of you did too.  My oldest son, Mr. M's dad, didn't want to come over to eat an Easter dinner because he didn't want "old food". 

Guess that one is partly my fault, I made the mistake of saying that I found a ham in the freezer and was going to clean out my pantry before I bought more food.  HOWEVER...it is not like I am a food hoarder and the items are really old.  The ham has been in the freezer since I bought it on sale.  I had picked up one for New's Year Day and just picked up an extra.  Three months, exactly, is not that old for a fully cooked ham that has been in the freezer since it came home from the grocery store.  The nerve, where does he think all those steaks and burgers come from.  Yes I stock up slightly when I catch a good deal, but only what I feel will be used with in a two month time frame.  As for the pantry...I clean it out and reorganize it every other month.  Purging anything that may have expired, donating what I know won't be eaten to the local food bank.  I swear, the oldest thing in my pantry may be a jar of Miracle whip bought 3 -4 months ago or a box of cake mix that may have gotten hidden that may be 4 or 5 months old.  For one, I don't stock up on things like that, and two, it just doesn't last that long around here.  Good grief, wonder what he would think if I turned in to an extreme coupon/hoarder.  They have years worth of supply stocked up in make shift shelves all over the house.  Good grief, does this child have no memory of when we were lucky to have wieners and canned tuna for several days until we got paid again?  Guess not.  On the other hand, maybe that is a sign that I did a great job of getting our family through some rough financial times, which everyone has from time to time.  I never had to get assistance of any kind for us.  Thankfully I also had the best teacher in the world, my mom.  She saved every thing and pinched a penny until it chirped.  When we cleaned out her home of 30 years to move to a smaller home, there were bags of glass jars she saved, margarine and whipped topping bowls, pieces of foil, even twist ties from bread bags.  She also washed and reused ziplock bags and Solo cups and bowls.  Oh well, I guess I should be happy for him that they aren't going through those hard times like we did.

So...goals for this month are many.  I need to get back to basics.  Basic home cooking, basic cleaning, and time for my crafts.  In spite of son, I am going to be cooking from the pantry and freezer this month.  I have a lot of cleaning to do, now that spring is here and it is warmer I can actually open up the windows and get some fresh air going through here.  I also have to get it together and even though I don't want to, have to file my mom's tax return.  Even though she passed away last year, she still had income for 6 months of the year.  On the good side, she should get a refund and I don't want the IRS to have one cent of what doesn't belong to them.  I have about 5 more quilts to make for the church orphanage project.  Now that I have received all the software programs I  purchased for quilting and embroidery, I need to sit down and work through the tutorials to learn how to make the most of them.  Oh, and I also have picked up some wonderful historical non-fiction books.  Published collections of various diary entries for civil war era, early 1920's, and World War II (from the perspective of a woman living in England).

Guess I better get some dinner going.  Thanks for stopping by.

Moving Along

Today has been quite eventful.  First of all, I actually got a full nights sleep.  That in itself is cause for celebration.  The weather finally warmed back up to a normal temp for a change.  It was so nice to be able to turn off the heater and open up the windows and doors and get some fresh air in the house. I do need to back up a moment, and tell you a little bit about yesterday.

A while back, I had made a bargain with my daughter-in-law.  She was wanting a sectional, I was wanting just a couch and chair.  See, I have a sectional.  I took my hubby to the furniture store to buy a chair with an ottoman, we came home with a sectional.  One with cup holders for watching movies.  He never once sat in the section that had cup holders.  The set came with a free recliner, his chair.  At any rate, my daughter-in-law had a couch with a big oversized chair and matching ottoman.  I have always loved it.  Even been a little envious of it.  That was always where I managed to sit when we would visit.  So, we traded living room furniture.  She got her sectional, I got my couch and chair.  I am however glad that I did not buy a couch and chair, it does not fit the way I thought it would, but it actually works for me.  Now I have to fight my youngest daughter Miss Zebra for it, but I will win out.  Oh I know I will win out.  Today we made the actual trade.  I now have a comfy chair to sit in so maybe I will just spend a little more time in the living room with the rest of the family.  At least now I have a chair I can do hand work in.

Naturally, while the furniture was gone, they took ours to the kids house first, I took advantage of the empty floor and cleaned the fool out of it.  Cleaned the walls down, window sill out, mopped the floor and polished and oiled the wooden end tables and book shelf.   Even cleaned a couple of windows inside and out. I will be heading out to the store tomorrow for sure to replenish some cleaning supplies and do a little more cleaning tomorrow.  Miss Zebra has a school holiday for King's birthday so she is going to watch Mr. M while I get a few things done. Oh, and I get to pick up my new sewing machine.  It arrived yesterday.

Speaking of yesterday, I took a quilt class for a Lone Star quilt yesterday as well.  I posted some photos and all about the class by clicking on quilt to see the new blog.  I have been doing a little tweaking to the blog, was going pretty good until suddenly parts of the blog is not working.  However, you can click on the tabs at the top of the page and go to the new parts.  It is crazy, you have no idea what I am having to go through to add a new post now.  I just don't understand it.  I just wanted to kind of separate the main interest a bit.  A tab for quilting, embroidery and housekeeping.  Will see how it works out, guess I can always delete them and go back to the old set up.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit, please come back often.  I am off to do a little sewing and go get a snack.

Work, Work, Work...So I Can Sew, Embroidery, Crochet

I has been a few days since I posted, but I have been really busy.  Honestly, I have.

Working in the quilt/craft room.  I really need a new name...Diva Den...no, I am not a diva.  Maybe Needle Nook...not to sure about that.  Must think about that a bit more.  At any way, here are some before photos.

So much stuff.  Not sure what do with all of it.  But I figured it all out.  I even have the room divided.  Cross stitch in one corner, sewing in another corner.  Supplies stored close to each.  Just wish I could have gotten my stash closer to the sewing table, but that just couldn't work out.  For a number of reasons, the way the furniture functions (direction doors open and size) mainly, but the biggest reason is I had to put things in a certain location to make it all opposite of the way it was.  I couldn't stand to have the rocking chair in the same corner as it was when Mom was staying here.

And...drum roll please... really, it needs a drum roll in my opinion.  Here are the after photos.

This is a stained glass sign that my dad made.  It hung in there travel trailer for many years and traveled to many places with them.  My mom loved this sign, because dad made it for her.  The red horse is because Dad worked for Mobil their entire marriage.

Okay, here is the first wall.  TV entertainment center has a cabinet on the end that opens out.  It is full of my Cricut cartridges and Sizzix dies.  The other end has a glass door.  All my embroidery supplies are in there.  Floss, embellishments, machine embroidery thread, laces and trims.  The shelves have all sewing supplies, current quilt projects and such.

Computer desk, cross stitch corner.  Mom's little rocker, which does not fit me well at all. It is very small, but of course it is about 60 years old and she was much smaller than me.  I will eventually get rid of it, but at the moment it is a sentimental thing.  It was always in her home, she loved it because she rocked both her babies in it.  Lamps for better hand stitching of course, then little drawer sets have all the office stuff.  You know, markers, pens, pencils, tablets, mailing supplies, label maker and such.  The very top shelf has little bins of various specialty yarns and my Cricut cutter.

My new sewing table.  The metal file cabinet sits in the corner, out of the way but easy to get to.  It has one drawer full of recipe and menu plan files, the other drawer if full of various files that have to do with quilting, crochet, embroidery, swaps and challenges.  I also store my cutting squares and rulers in that drawer.  Now, the long curtains are to replace the closet doors.  This makes it so much easier to get in the closet.  This is where all the good stuff and bulky stuff is now housed.  Shelves that hold bins of crochet projects, fabric for garment construction, UFO quilt projects, a cool round spinning shoe and purse carrier that is perfect for holding yarn.  Small skeins fit in the shoe pockets and the one pounders fit perfectly in the center opening that is actually for the purses.  Drawers of sewing patterns, sewing supplies, another set of drawers has quilt projects, mostly block sets or flimsy type (which I believe is the term given to a top that has been completed.  My AccuQuilt Go cutter and the plastic container I bought that holds all the dies and cutting mats perfectly are also in there.  On, and my box with the dressmaker's form is in it's own spot as well.  I made the curtains yesterday, but had the wrong rod to hang them on.  The cat gets a kick out of playing with the bottoms of the curtains.  I am not sure I like the fabric though.  It looked good on the bolt, cost $2 a yard, but it reads very busy in appearance.  But they are made and hanging.

Finally, my stash.  All folded and sorted by color.  Except the top two shelves, sorted more by novelty print.  Stack for juvenile boy and for girl, older themed too.  The new Brother 770 embroidery machine sits on the little chest or cabinet.  Another piece that was my mom's.  The cabinets hold cross stitch charts and clip boards and all the college team fabric I bought while in Texas.  Both are Texas teams.

 

Now that everything is in it's own special place and cleaned up, and the curtains are made, I can get started on my most immediate quilt projects.  I need to finish some crazy quilt blocks for a challenge and a swap, then a couple of throw size quilts for my church quilt ministry's project of quilts for the orphanage we kind of sponsor.  Also am making a quilt for my youngest son's girl friend.  I will post the computer generated rendering of what that should look like.  I am starting to understand my EQ 7 software a little bit more each time I use it, so figure these charity quilts are a great learning lesson for finding and using old quilt patterns and techniques.

I did manage to get the window topper completed this evening.  Let me tell you about my other little event of the day.

Went out early, in the freezing cold weather, to Walmart to pick up the correct rod to hang the closet curtains on, a rod for the window topper, fabric for a quilt class I am taking this Saturday to match the living room/dining area/kitchen window treatments that I made several years ago.  Well I added some longer panels to the dining area windows this past summer, they are west facing so I wanted to block a little more light.  Decided to make the quilt class project match the living room and will put it on the couch.  It is a Lonestar variation. Okay, back to the point.  At any rate, I was in Walmart and had a PSVT attack.  Really bad one, lasted longer and more painful than I had ever had.  I was too embarrassed to let them call me an ambulance, so I suffered and prayed that I would not pass out in the store.  When I realized that I would have to end up going to the ER, I had to go buy a package of pads so I could have some with me.  Another stupid moment, shopping with out being prepared.  At any rate, I finished my purchase, sat down for a few minutes and then managed to get to the car.

I had to call an ambulance to pick me up from the parking lot.  SOOOOO totally embarrassing, but by that point the pain was so intense, dizziness and nausea so strong that I just didn't care any more.  Well, I had been battling the episode already for about 20 - 30 minutes before giving in and admitting I had to have some help just to get some relief.  When the EMT checked me, my heart rate was only 214.  They immediately gave me medicine to bring it down, which didn't work so followed that up with a double dose.  Understand, that this medicine, when administered, tightens the chest as if in a huge vice grip.  Off to the ER we went to make sure I wasn't having a stroke or anything else.  I have to call in the morning to have a follow up visit with my primary doctor.  I swear I think it caused a mini stroke because I am having trouble remembering some things one side of my mouth now has a bit of droop to it.

Needless to say, I didn't get anything much accomplished today.  Wasn't even able to keep the grand baby and I really feel bad about that.

Well, I am off to take a warm bath and then to bed.  Tomorrow is another day and now that I am a day behind, I really need to hit two fabric shops and a local quilt shop tomorrow to pick up some fabric that son's girlfriend picked out so that I can have it on hand to work on her quilt.  Also need a coordinating fabric for the Lonestar project to use on the insets.  The quilt is shaped kind of like a stop sign.

Thank you for stopping in for a visit, please come again soon.

New Year - New Start

Well, it is the start of a new year.  They seem to actually be showing up a lot sooner than they used to.  Remember being young and thinking on New Year's Day as you eat you black eyed peas that it going to take forever for it to get to Christmas again.  So many things can change in that year.  Loved ones lost, loved ones just beginning.  Now, as this year starts, I cherish the memories of my parents that are no longer living. I miss them something terrible. I look forward to a new grand baby coming. 

Along with that comes all the plans for the year.  Do any of you make resolutions?  I used to, but just don't any more.  I just don't get them resolved.  Don't get me wrong, I still make out goals and plans for the future, both immediate and longer, but I just don't label them.  Keeps the pressure of so I don't feel disappointed or a failure because I didn't loose that weight, clean the house, eat more healthy or what ever a resolution would involve.

Are there areas I want to work on?  Yes there are, many of them, too many too list.  Okay, so I do have a list, just not going to share it.  I will say that I want to work on me this year.  I have been so busy giving me away to so many other people that I have disappeared a bit.  I think I need to find me, such a cliché saying, and then work on making me better.  I need to define my relationship with my Savior, only by getting that in order can there be any type of order to myself.  I am no good to anyone if I am can't even pull myself together.

I want to be better at being a wife, which means better at taking care of the house. Better cleaning, better meal preparation, working on getting the house fixed up the way I...repeat "I"...want it.  I have been in this house for going on 13 years and it still doesn't feel like mine.  I want it to feel like mine.  You know, like I belong instead of visiting. 

I want to be better at being a mother, which means paying more attention to my kids.

I want to have time to do all the craft things that are stuck in my head.  The counted cross stitch projects (my new obsession) that I have started.  The quilts I have planned.  All the quilts in various stages that were put away when life got in the way.  In other words, I am determined to finish all that I have started.  For a change.

Oh I am great, stupendous in fact, at making list and organizing.  Problem is, the organizing just doesn't quite get there.  I start, like sorting out a closet, then way to easily get side tracked by some sort of thought that blows through my head.  I buy all the needed supplies for doing the organizing, then just don't use them.  Maybe it is time to re-visit Fly Lady or the SHE school of thought.

I had planned to play along with a challenge or two, but am also thinking all that over as well.  I did give up and quit the Crazy January challenge.  You can read more about it on that page.  Needless to say I am way too slow at stitching so it is already driving me crazy to have the two projects I started just sitting around.  I will continue to work on them, that gives me a total of three WIP in the cross stitch department.  I have no UFO's any more as far as cross stitch is concerned.  The one UFO I had, was the Nativity, but since I am actively working on it again I have updated its status to a Work In Progress (WIP) now.  I use to have an intense passion for quilting.  I am good at it.  My dad would call and ask me what I was working on, I would email him photos, he was my biggest fan.  What ever I made - quilt, ceramic, garment construction, crochet - he was interested and loved it all.  When he died, it hit me so hard I don't think I really let myself go through a proper or rather healthy grieving process.  At any rate, I kind of stopped quilting for a while.  Now, that little bug is back and wanting to do a lot of stitching.  Besides, I think it would kind of be like disrespecting of me to not pick it back up.  I even learned in a bible study class that craftsmanship is my gift from God and I feel that by not using it I am not honoring that gift.  On one of my groups, there is a WIP/WHIMM challenge that I am the coordinator for.  The WHIMM (Works Hidden In My Mind) category in my case is about to explode.  I even bought a little bit of fabric this evening to put me in the mood.

I have to make some diamond blocks for a Crazy Quilt challenge, so will be starting on them no later than this week end.  They are small blocks, but have a lot of embellishment that will go along with them.  Thankfully, with quilting I was blessed with speed.  Guess so much of the speed gene was used for quilting that none of it is left over for cross stitching.  Sounds good anyway.  My biggest obstacle with sewing has been being able to get to my machine.  It seems that just when I get my sewing room cleaned up, something happens and stuff gets dumped in it.  Mainly, that is where boxes of Mom's things get set for me to go through.  So very hard to do.  I still need to finish up her bills, she passed in July.  At any rate, today I worked around Mr. M as best I could (along with the diversion of catching up on emails after being gone for a week) and was actually able to get quite a bit accomplished.  I bought the stuff for shelving, just need to get it attached to the wall now.  I also bought some cheap but pretty fabric to make the curtain to hang over the closet doors (now removed) and purchased a little extra to make a window topper to match.

Well, it took forever for me to get out of Walmart tonight.  Have to go back tomorrow because the idiot man checking was too busy talking and charged me twice for an item.  I also have to go to the bank in the morning, it would seem that someone has once again gotten our bank account info and made debit purchases.  Metro PCS...again...$118 dollars worth this time.  Last time it was our daughter's account and she didn't have any money in it so it only debited $1.51 but it is the hassle of it all.  Now, I have to find out whose card is being used, mine or hubby's, and they will block that card.  That sets off a whole new set of irritation as we both have so many things that are automatically debited each month.  I kind of hope it mine, hubby and the two of our kids are on a trip at the moment, won't be back until Sunday, so can't block his card.  I hate people who think they have the right to just take what they want.  Any way, I am headed to the bath and then to bed.  I would go straight to bed, seeing as how it is almost two in the morning, but I am freezing and a bath helps warm me.  Crazy thing is in another few hours I will have a big old hot flash and sure won't be cold any more. 

That's life I guess.  Speaking of which.

Meet my helper.  She has made her mission in life to eat all my threads and to see just how much skin she can take off my legs by crawling up them.  Yesterday she has started climbing up the back of my computer chair and then sitting on my shoulder.  Her very loud purrs in my ear tell me she is content there.  Just makes it a bit difficult to do anything.

Thanks for stopping by the zoo, come back soon.

Oh What Fun!

Okay, so you know how you eat all the cake and cookies the week before you know you are starting a new diet?  Because you know that  you won't be getting any after that day? And you really want to get them out of the house?

Well, I am preparing for my diet date.  A stash diet that is. Jan. 1 will start a no buy, use the stash, finish the UFO's personal challenge.

For quilting, this means that I will only purchase what I need to complete a project.  I will be making a list of all my UFO's (unfinished forgotten objects) that are stuffed folded up neatly on the shelf. I will be feeding the PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) so that they fatten up in to wonderfully completed quilts to go to new homes.  I have an obscene amount of PIGS.  Good thing I love ham so much. I did find a great deal on EQ7, quilt design software, over at the Quilt in a Day site so purchased it...on Thursday, it arrived Friday.  I was in total shock at the speed. I can't wait to load it and start playing with it.  Next week though, I am going to play with my AccuQuilt Go cutter and the new tumbler die I bought.  I purchased fabric today for a purple and grey quilt to made out of the tumblers for a gift for youngest son's girlfriend.  I do suspect however, that in the not to distant future she will become family.  Think, hope anyway, they are planning on waiting until they are both out of college.  They have been together for like five or six years already.  Also, purchased some iron on interfacing to use for the t-shirt quilt I plan to make out of youngest son's t-shirts I have collected.  Actually he collected them, kept them stuffed in his closet, I found them when he moved out.  So, figured if held on to them, I can make them in to some thing he can really hold on to.

Now, the "Stash Diet" as it deals with my newest fascination of counted cross stitch.  For this re-visited hobby, I call it that because years ago (many, many years ago) I enjoyed this particular craft.  But, like so many things in my life it was boxed up, put away, not to be thought of for far too long.  Well, in the process of sorting through boxes in the storage to unpack and place in the sewing room that was no longer needed for a bedroom for mom, I found some UFO's that had not been touched in at least 12 years or more.  I have developed a new determination to finish all unfinished works in my life.  Guess it is a by product of the loss of mom, dealing with all the final disposition of her things and such.  At any rate, there has opened up a new window of interest again after being closed up for far too long.  Getting rid of the musty part of old I guess.

So...as with the quilting, I am going on a diet with this area as well.  Problem is, I haven't really got the huge amount of stash to supply my addiction with the counted cross stitching as I do with my quilting. But, I am in for the game.  I have only one project in the works currently, that will be an ongoing project for some time it would seem.  I stitch very slow.  Don't know why I can create a quilt in a day, two at the most, completely finished, but it takes forever to make all those little x's of thread everywhere.  On the agenda for this new project, it will be a lot of organizing, just like with quilting. I already have planned which project I am starting first.  I am so tired of working on my current project, the nativity.  Once I tasted reality and swallowed the sad fact that I will not be able to finish it for this Christmas, I immediately placed it at the top of my "ongoing finish for 2013" list. 

To "prepare" for my  upcoming stash diet, I have gone on a little spending spree.  Not a lot, but I did buy the thread for my next project, but forgot the cloth.  I will have to remember to get some.  I am thinking that it would be much cheaper to buy some cloth by the yard.  I have a serger and can finish off the cut edges.  Maybe though, I will just have to buy the cloth as I go.  Not sure which would make more sense, money wise, at this point.  Any way, at this time, I am really concentrating on building up my thread stash.  Last week, I bought a thread of each color, sorted it and have it all inventoried.  At the moment however, I think I went a little overboard on bidding on Ebay.  I will only have a problem if I actually win them all.  However, I have budgeted for just such an occasion. At least I will have on hand all I need to work with, supply wise. As with the quilting, as of Jan. 1 there will be no more purchases of thread, charts, kits to just stuff find a place to store away.  I will only use what I have on hand.  Of course, it doesn't count if you have to buy a few threads to replace what you use up, or run out of before finishing the project.  Yep, that's the story...I'm sticking to it.

Oh this is going to be so much fun.  Wonder if I can stitch while on the treadmill, which I will be starting back on Jan. 1 as well. Well, exercise anyway, thinking of getting some hand weights and a ball for scrunches.  Will start simple.  Also need to get back on track with my food as well.

I have decided to re-organize my day a bit and starting on the first of the new year I plan to sew during the day.  Well...as much as I can around Mr. M and his needs that is. Cross stitch when everyone has gone to bed and it needs to be quieter.  By that I mean I won't disturb hubby who goes to bed at 8:30 each night.  I have to fit in menu planning in there somewhere as well. It seems to really run a lot smoother at meal time if I have planned it out a bit.  We eat out way too much, my fault, and since I am the largest instigator of it, I will be hardest to push for home meals.  It is better all around financially to plan out the meals and eat at home, emotionally I don't have to worry what is for dinner, and physically is much healthier for us as well.  Hubby eats out a big meal every day for lunch with his job.  Miss Zebra eats at school each day, she tries to make healthy choices but sometimes that is really hard with what the school offers up.  It makes sense to make the evening meal more nutritious for all of us.

Pulled some more items from mom's storage out today and brought them to the house to go through.  I finally got the furniture I want for the sewing room all in place, just need to clean it back up as every thing was just kind of piled here and there willy nilly to change out the pieces of furniture.

Cross over between these two crafts will be the crazy quilting projects.  They are both quilting and embroidery and they are embellished with all kinds of embroidery stitches and decorative pieces.  I have a box of my mom's clothes that I saved, her more favorite pieces and a sack of my dad's neck ties.  I will cut them up and make a crazy quilt for myself and my brother, just throw size, and then will make smaller pillow or lap size projects for each of the grand kids to have. This project will take a long time I am sure, but that is okay too.  This project will not go on any list, no deadlines, nothing but time to heal and remember.

The other craft that I enjoy, or hobby, but I just hate the word hobby because to me it conjures up time spent doing some project that is of no use to anyone.  When you say you have a craft, it sounds more artsy, more special.  Regardless, I also crochet.  Love the things I create, but like with cross stitch, am totally at a snail's pace with it.  I will never be able to understand how someone can sit there and tell me how relaxing, calming, crochet is.  I can only work so long, by that I mean not long at all, for I become a nervous irritable wreck.  So, because I have a weird sense of need to punish myself, I bought some this new yarn out to make a scarf for my oldest daughter, Mrs. C, the teacher.  You can crochet with it, but it has a net, much like the old fishnet hose, built in to it.  Apparently, it makes really great scarves because the yarn design naturally makes a spiral or ruffle.  I talked to a woman at the store that has used it quite a bit.  She knits though, will never be able to learn that, and she showed me a little of how to do it, but with wanting to crochet it she advised me to check out YouTube for videos on working with the stuff.  Mrs. C has already hinted that she would like one.  She finds things on Pinterest, then lets me know...in not so subtle hints...that I should make it for her.  She has a lot of misplaced confidence in her mother's abilities sometimes.  But hey, makes me try new things...once.  If you haven't looked around that site, you really should, it is amazing.  Make sure you lots of time when you do.

Well, it is late and I have written a book in this post.  Thank you for dropping buy and listening.  I have a year's worth of cleaning to get done tomorrow.  Hubby loves me so much he had to share his little bug with me.  I have been sick for a week or so.  So...nothing has really been done around the house because as you all know, only mom can do it.  And, even if she can't really hold her head up, is sneezing a storm, coughing up a lung, it will all be alright when ever she does get around to it.  Come back and visit soon.  Will be updating later in the week the nativity progress.  I kind of hit a sweet spot with some large areas of the same color to stitch.  Oh my stars, that doing three or nine stitches of a color at a time just kills.  I should just nickname the project Small, because, "you're killing me Smalls).

That being said, I am off to soak and then to bed.  Have a really full day waiting for me tomorrow.  Will see how much I can get done.  Have you finished your Christmas shopping?  I am about a fourth of the way done.  Need some online orders to arrive, then wrapped, and one more shopping trip with hubby and we will be finished.  I am so excited that we are heading to Texas to see family right after Christmas.  I will have to pull some photos off Facebook of Buddy, Mrs. C shelf elf.  If you haven't heard of this craze you really should look it up.  She is so creative in story ideas that I just eagerly anticipate reading each day's post about what he was up to during the night.

Wednesday Wrap-up Workings

I came home Monday night and found that hubby had loaded Office 2007 on my computer. I am so happy to have my Word and Excell back, especially my Office photo manager.  YEAH!  It is so much easier to work with photos now.

Speaking of which, here is how the Nativity is looking.

At least this project is coming a long with out any problems.  As you know it is a UFO that I am determined to finish.  As slow as I stitch I am confident in saying that this will not be finished in time for Christmas.  Maybe by Christmas...2013?  It is fun to work on now, I can actually see some of the figures coming to life.  A wise man kneeling, the manger, an angel, a shepherd looking on.

Also, if you followed any of my postings, you would know that my "house" project was scrapped and am now going to scrap the SW Angel.  There is just way more work to taking out stitches and correcting stitching mistakes than is worth.  While I dearly adore the elderly friend that gave it to me, I have decided to just start from scratch and make a new one.  I will start on her after the holidays are over.  I have a few kits as well that I plan to work on.  I must say, the hands free embroidery stands are working quite wonderfully.  Just need to get the hang of tying off when I end a color.  It is awkward and bothersome to loosen a screw, flip the frame over, end that color...or start one for that matter...then flip it back over to work on.  I did see a neat YouTube video that is a basic how to for counted cross stitching.  It is really quicker stitching, with an in and out in one motion of the needle, however, with all the work I have already done on the piece it is a bit difficult at times to work the needle in and out from the same side.  But...that may be due in part to the fact that the cloth is loaded sideways in the scroll.  The cloth is way more wider than it is tall, so it only fits in a scroll frame sideways.  I am tempted to go back to a hoop frame and then place that in the floor frame.

Last night I made soup for supper.  We are all sick to different degrees.  Hubby has had it the worst, so he wanted to pass it on for our enjoyment.  I have had it, while my throat isn't so sore anymore, I have lost most of my voice, nose is running like crazy and I am so tired.  Taking care of Mr. M is not helping the matter either.  Miss Zebra has so far gotten by with barely any bug effects at all. Anyway, I made Enchilada Meatball Tortellini soup.  OH WAS IT GOOD! I really need to get my but in gear and get back to organizing a menu plan, start posting again on MPM and get this house cleaned up.  I still have stuff in a storage unit from mom.  Speaking of which, I need to make myself sit down and fill out forms for her insurance, social security death benefit, and finish up her personal papers to get ready for her final tax return.  So much to do, that I just don't really want to deal with.  And, especially this time of year, I miss them both so much.  I just get this overwhelming feeling of being an orphan.  Even though I am a grown woman with a mostly grown family of my own.

Now, hubby wants us to go camping and dirt bike riding with a dirt bike club this week end.  I am thinking that none of us are well enough to do this, and I can only think of all the things I need to do to get ready for Christmas.  I really do need to some how organize myself so that I can find time to not only stitch on my counted cross stitch project, but also on my quilting.  In January I will be building three crazy quilt diamond shapes and embellish them with embroidery and such for a swap.  The embellishment will take a little time to be sure, fortunately I sew really fast so building them will only take one evening. We will see what happens I guess.

Thanks for dropping in, come back often.

Monday Menu...and catch up.

My goodness, it has been a while since I last posted.  That's what happens when I go down ill for few days. I have been working on the house as well.  Have all my craft stuff back in place, except for the fabric.  Still have a ton of fabric to unpack, but can see the end in site.  Am to the point now where I can actually see a time when I can actually craft.  More about that later.

Menu planning...partly working and partly not.  I haven't posted to Organized Junkie Monday's Menu Plan   for a couple of weeks now.  I am actually thinking that it would be easier to post what we have  had the previous week as opposed to posting the plan for the week.  I have the best intentions, really I do, but it just seems that what ever I plan, doesn't happen.  I know what I have on hand, so that makes it a little easier.

This week:
Mon. - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans
Tue. - Beef Stew and cornbread
Wed. - Chicken enchiladas, pinto beans
Thu. - Talapia, corn, broccoli
Fri. - Chili
Sat. - burgers
Sun. - eating out

My hubby's parents are coming, picking them up on Sat. at LA airport so hubby will grill burgers or steaks, not sure which, haven't gotten that far with planning yet.  Will have the grand baby that day, his dad (oldest son) is taking the state test for an electrician, his mom is running in a mud run...Volkslauf.  The, on Sunday we will all be driving over to Hurst Castle and taking a tour.  We will eat out some where along the way.  Then Monday, hubby is taking his parents up to see the big trees, I will go if we can get back by 4:30, other wise I have to stay behind to get youngest daughter, Miss Zebra, to band practice.  Tues we will just be hanging out at the house, Miss Zebra has ice skating lesson, wants her grandparents to come watch.  I will attending my Wilton Cake Decorating class.  I tried to take this class once before, but due to health issues of myself and family, was unable to complete.  I hope to make it through this time.  I already missed last week, and thought I would have the baby today, not sure if I would be able to attend next Monday due to visitors, so talked to instructor and changed to her evening class.

I bought a bunch of candy molds and decorations to make cupcakes to take to the church festival on Halloween, and alternative fun night for the kids.  They are having a cupcake walk, as opposed to a cake walk, so am donating a few dozen cupcakes for the event.  More kids get to win.  I am actually looking forward to making them, have grand ideas, will see what actually ends up getting done.  Will post photos of course.

Now...about crafting.  I need to get more of the house back in order (still have some boxes of mom's things I have to sort through) before I can actually start taking time to work on any projects.  As for menu planning, I have to rethink how I am going about that.  It seems, I am spending so much time on trying to make up a menu plan, stick to the menu plan, organize the menu plan, that I am just not getting anything else done.  I need to SIMPLIFY my details of life so very much, so that is what I am working on.  I am going to have one day that I plan, simple meals, making more use of the crock pot.  Once I get a little more meat cooked, making room in the freezer, I plan to do a large cooking session over a week end to stock the freezer with cooked meals. That will work better for me I do think.  Then, I am going to designate a couple of days a week for cleaning, a few hours a day for computer time, then spend some evenings actually working on craft projects once again.  Will work during the day some if Mr. M cooperates with napping.

I unpacked three boxes of fabric, finding some quilting UFO's in the process.  I am determined not to start any new projects until I finish up all the UFO (Un Finished Objects) or maybe I should stick to calling them WIP (Works In Progress) which letter wise makes a little more sense for my OCD (you know what that is) mind.  So far, there are quilts, crochet projects, garments and embroidery all in various stages of progress.  That will be my first order of business, to finish up those.  Then, I can get to working on some charity projects and some items to finally stock the Etsy store I have. Maybe make a little pocket change in the process.  I have two boxes so far of items for the store.

Funny thing, in an attempt to get more organized, I had created a blog for just cooking.  Was only going to list recipes on it so I could join in this thing called the Mystery Cooking Club.  Well, I had just gotten it set up, with just a few post.  Went to post a photo that went with one of the recipes only to find that some one, some where, had determined that the blog violated terms or was suspected of being spam, the blog had been deleted.  I wish I had know this would happen so I could have at least copied the story I posted about the recipe.  Oh well, such is life.

This is the Texas Sheath Cake I made. Was the recipe that was determined to be spam.  So...I won't post it.

Got to get moving and get a little something done around here.  Thank you for stopping by and come back often.  Feel free to leave a comment.