Finally, spring has sprung. It's not raining as much and it seems the days are a bit warmer and of course longer. Took Tiger to Trout Lake yesterday and could not believe how excited she was. Our visits over the winter months have been sporadic. I really need to get into a better routine where we go more often, as we both could use the walk to get rid of some "winter flab".
I leave you today with 2 more stitches from last year that I'm pretty sure I didn't blog about.
A while ago I told you how I had gotten back into reading. As I was browsing around looking at book sites I came across this one that peeked my interest
Body Movers by Stephanie Bond . I read the first one and thought it's okay, but since I had purchased the first 3 as a bundle, I read on and couldn't stop till I reached book 6. Books 7 and 8 are on hold, as there are talks of making a TV series. I can't wait to find out what happens, so I'm hoping it will be soon, very soon. As for making it into a TV series, it could work with the right actors.
I havn't posted since the end of January, yikes that is a long time. No specific reason or problems, time just got away from me. We ended February with snow and so far March has been stormy, rain, thunder and lightining. And more rain !
I do have stitching to show for my time away and will bring you up to date soon.
Okay so it isn't Friday, I missed the last two and this is a small catch up for those days.
I love to read, at least I used to all the time. When I worked full time (7 years ago) most lunch breaks you would find me with a book. I could have spent all my time reading. I did stitch, one project at a time and usually a large one, like L&L angels. Then when I retired somehow both those hobbies took a back seat. I guess helping Mom look after my Dad was more time consuming than I remember.
I got back into stitching and discovered all these new designers whose patterns I fell in love with and started stitching and stitching and, well lets just say it has taken over, but I don't mind in the least. Just wish I could stitch as fast as they design.
Then I bought an e-book (Sony) and as I didn't have anything to compare it with, thought it worked fine and didn't think too much about the fact that one page could be 4 lines and the next a full page. Not only was I helping to save trees, I was saving money by borrowing from the library without having to leave home. Only I still did not read like I used to, but at least I was reading a few books a year, probably what most of you read in a month.
A few months ago I bought an iPad. You need an app for something, they most likely have it. There's ebooks and ibooks and I'm sure others. Well I finally figured out how to get books I already have onto ibooks and am impressed with it. Every page is full and it never stalls (at times the Sony would freeze up). In the last 2 days I have read 1 book and started another. Okay they are not intense or huge books, but hey this is a start back into a hobby I once thought I couldn't live without.
The books are by an author I had never heard of, Gayle Trent . Murder Takes the Cake was so good I had to start Dead Pan right away. She has also written 2 books under the pseudonym Amanda Lee. These 4 books is all she has written, I do hope she continues the series with them.
So if you like cozy murder mysteries, you will most likely like these.
Now, the question is do I go stitch or read ?????
28 ct. Jazlyn Bone
DMC 3831
These were all previously stitched. I did all the finishing/sewing by hand.
The Sampler Girl
I can't find the pattern for this one anyone know who the desinger is ?
Stacy Nash Primitives
I thought about joining in the 15 Day Challenge, but with the amount of UFO's I have it just did not seem right. Not only that I tend to be a "I'm going to stitch this one" at whim type. So I am going to set up a small plan and see if I can stick to it.
JANUARY
I do have plans for the rest of the year, but will see how January goes. I already broke #1 with a traditional New Year's Day start, but it's small. My plans include using up my DMC collection some colors I have 3-5 times over. Some I know I will never use, but I think they will make cute little fobs or biscornus. That idea will take some planning and I'm still thinking it out.
In the meantime this is the first UFO I pulled out to work on. You'll notice it says 2009.
I will post the others as I pull them out of hibernation.
As I look back over the past month, if it was to go wrong it did. First my hot water tank, car battery, my Mom's fall and hospitalization. Then the hot water tank "again", parking ticket, door key breaking in lock, luckily there was enough of it to pull out. The tank needed to be replaced, the parking ticket was issued at Save on Foods parking lot at 4:18 p.m. stating I was parked there since 13:00 p.m. (2 hour limit) which was impossible as I was at the hospital. Finally figured out what went wrong, the chalk mark on my tire was from the day before. I disputed the ticket and they "forgave" it this time only. Since I am usually there every day I will now need to check my tires, hopefully it does not happen again. I'm sure there was something else, just can't think of it right now :)
Took my Mom to the cast clinic 4 days after she came home and there is a fracture, so the cast will be staying on till at least the end of January. The cast dr. who saw her will not be there so I need to make an appointment with another and their office is closed till Jan. 4th so we may even be looking at beginning of February. She hasn't been wanting to go for her coffee and donut, so I go and bring it home for her. She's making do with a pair of readers I got her, I know they are not the best but she does use them. Finally convinced her on Wednesday she needed to go and see about getting a new pair. We did and they will be ready in 2 weeks.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about my stitching and plans for the new year. I was tempted by the 15 day challenge, but decided that really was not right for me.
I now think I have one in place for myself and with some tweaking, it should be ready for revealing tomorrow. So come on back to see what it is and there will be some pictures of my latest stitches.
It's been a hectic and stressful week, with my Mom coming home from the hospital yesterday. More on that later.
I received The Recipes for A Cure cookbook from The Attic and am very impressed. Not sure what I was expecting, but this was way beyond anything I thought it would be. As I was flipping through I came across this recipe and immediately thought of my Mom. I read through the recipe and sure enough they are the same cookies she used to make every Christmas, only I think she used rum, but I suppose you could use any liquor :)
Mom with my Dad's help would make dozens upon dozens of them, pack them up tin cans and we would all get them for Christmas. Oh how I miss them, now that I have a recipe I'll try and make them one year.
Then I came upon this free pattern from The Sampler Girl and thought of all the years Mom had Christmas Eve dinner, where these cookies always made an appearance.
Funny, how memories can make you happy and sad at the same time.
Now onto my Mom. She was admitted after spending 2 nights in emergency. At this point she was very confused, didn't know where she was and just was not herself. Without going into too much detail, she has a UTI, no head injuries, minor blockage to her heart and as she kept complaining about her wrist the dr. had another x-ray taken and they put a splint on, but as she kept taking this off she now has a cast.
My brother and I now believe she has dementia and this has been going on slowly for about a year and this hospital stay made it all the more recognizable. My dr. once told me the Mayo Clinic web site is very good for information and upon reading what they say about dementia, she has all the signs.
While getting her to bed last night, I think she may also be having "sundowning". I'm going to get a notebook and start making notes about the "little" things I find different and see where we go from there. In the meantime I will do my best to look after her. Which may be easier said then done.
Kincavel Krosses