Sneaux 2008

Congratulations! You get a picture intensive post!

First the snow (please understand it hasn't snowed this much here in something like 60 years)






Yes, that is my child that is out in the wet and cold in shorts LOL If you'll notice in the next picture she does have pants on. They must have changed clothes about 20 times. Lauren and Maria watched the goings on from inside mostly.

I also stayed inside for the most part. I curled up with my Stitching Girl socks from Marjean and I think they were magic. LOL I finished up the band sampler RR that was due...yesterday. (I'll mail it express to make up for that) She wanted TW bands so I did the center part of the Renaissance Bookmark. And I also finished up the Bluebird of Joy or whatever in the new Ornament Issue. I used Fuzzy Stuff in the hat and some Mill Hill snowflakes.





And finally to reward my hard work LOL Instead of working any any other number of WIPs or Obligation Stitching, I decided to start a new project. The Peacock from Dessins DHC. The fabric is 40 ct. Atlantic Storm from Silkweaver. Threads are Carrie's Creations Slate Blue and Valdani Threads Seaside

SNOW DAY!

It's actually snowing for real in South Louisiana. I've taken a lot of pictures but haven't gotten them off the camera yet. I got the girls all ready for school...we backed down the driveway and went about a block down the street and I decided that was enough of that. We turned around and went back home. Our neighbors apparently did the same thing LOL So the girls are staying home today and getting snuggly warm.

Surprise!

Yesterday I was reading an article about the new JK Rowling book (The Beetle and the Bard) coming out and I remembered looking at it on Amazon, and wondered briefly if I had preordered that or not. I decided I hadn't. But, when I got home, there it was! Apparently I did LOL Anyway, it was a cute little book. A quick read. I read it cover to cover in a couple of hours. I'm also reading Lost by Gregory Maguire. I got about halfway through and still wasn't "getting it", but decided I had invested that much effort I needed to finish it and be done with it. Finally, about 3/4 of the way through it got interesting LOL But, I was too tired to finish it up last night. I'm hoping the last little bit doesn't totally suck and ruin it all together.

And the winner is...

Dianne! I don't have pictures or a randomizer to prove that, so y'all will just have to trust me LOL

Dianne...if you could email me your address at autumn.crochet@gmail.com I'll work on getting your package together.

300!!

Yes, I love that movie, it's serious eye candy. But, this time it refers to my 300th blog post! That thrills me! Took quite awhile to get here. So to celebrate I think I'll do a giveaway. I don't know what it'll be yet. I think I'll kind of personalize it a bit once I know who wins. I'm not going to do anything fancy like link backs or challenging questions LOL Just post a comment to this blog entry before....let's say 8 pm (my time) Wednesday evening.

Weekend Review

We had a pretty good weekend. Saturday was a lazy rainy day. We took the girls to see Bolt. I really liked that movie. The girls enjoyed it. I had a lot of time to stitch and managed to finish up this little ornament. It was a freebie from Plum Pudding Needle Arts.

Sunday we took the drive out to Covington to see my sister's new house. It's a very cute house by the way. We also took portraits for Christmas. It was outdoor which made it interesting because it was quite cold and very windy. The girls helped her decorate her Christmas tree...which translates into sort of watched her decorate the tree while her boyfriend showed us how to play various games on their Wii.

Then they took us to a park near their house to kill some time until it got dark so we could see their enchanted forest. They cleared a bunch of paths through their wooded lot and strung it all up with lights. It was really awesome. The girls loved it.

And we got to meet her new dog Shelby. They have two others. Shelby is a great dane that is not quite albino, but has some pigment issues as you can see from her eyes....and she's deaf. I got a laugh out of her Hitler moustache.

Thanksgiving

We had a pretty nice Thanksgiving. Maria made more pumpkin muffins and Eva made sugar cookies (that translates into I made muffins and cookies and others took the credit lol). I was bad and started a new ornament yesterday while I was waiting between batches. If I work on it tonight, I might finish it tomorrow.

I'm going to brave the early morning shoppers with my oldest daughter and mom. Should be interesting. I'm going get a Nintendo Wii for the family Christmas present. Sam's has a good price on a family bundle so we're going to get there early and take advantage of their complimentary breakfast.

Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas Tree over the weekend. We were going to be busy for the next few weekends so I decided that we could go ahead and put it up. We go with the artificial trees. My old 5' one had pretty much bitten the dust last year. The cats liked to climb up in it and the limbs aren't meant to carry that much weight. We got a 9' tree this year. Yikes! Thank goodness for cathedral ceilings! I can't put the angel on top. LOL I need to figure out how I'm going to do that. (for you people that check out picture backgrounds, that's the tree box in the hall and the corner of Lady of the Flag behind the tree lol )

And I got myself a few peacock ornaments this year. Here's one that I think is really cute.

Pretty Peacocks

This was a quick stitch. About 3 days of stitching. Probably less if I hadn't been quite so distracted. It's Pretty Peacocks by Sallie Ann Designs. There are supposed to be beads in the tail but I'm leaving those out. I'm gonna use the band across a pillow. It's 27 ct. Natural Banding and I used 3 strands of...ummmm...it was a Thread Gatherer silk, but I can't remember which color it was.

Blogger

I love the new "Following" feature. That makes things soooo much easier! It's such a nifty little feature especially in the wake of Blogrolling apparently biting the dust.

Yesterday was Eva's 7th Birthday Party. She really had a lot of fun. A lot of kids showed up and and she got a lot of cute presents. I was a little worried whether or not she'd actually like the little purse I got her but turned out she really liked it. So Yay Me!

Now I need to start focusing on Christmas. I have the luxury of not having to worry about Thanksgiving. We're just a "show up" family LOL That's not true. I usually bring something, but it's not something that's usually a big deal to cook.

All Done

Finished the Twilight Saga. I read all 4 books in what? 2 weeks? LOL So they were pretty good. I really enjoyed the story. I found some aspects to be a little predictable, but maybe that's because I'm an adult and they were geared more towards teens. Not to give away anything but I kinda felt like the end left it open for another series to be created with 2 different main characters.

I got Sophia's RR in the mail yesterday for the band sampler RR. She's doing a TW theme. I'm gonna do the middle out of the Renaissance Bookmark. I've done that in the past when I was in a TWRR. It turns out beautiful.

Slow Day

Work is a little slow today. I'm feeling a little better. I knew it was going to be slow so I brought my active WIPs with me. I thought I'd share some pictures.

First...which really ought to be my priority...but I always seem to find something else to work on. Kaye's Mirabilia RR. That's Fairy Flora. Not too much left to do on it, but there are a ton of beads on there.

Next up is Violet from the Pixie Couture Collection. I have some negativity associated with this piece. If I finish it, it will be a miracle.

Something is going wrong with my camera and my fabric here. This is my start on "Something Wicked This Way Comes". The fabric is really dark brown. Not green. It's like dirt brown. In fact...it's from Silkweaver Secrets of Nature series called Earth. But it is heavily mottled as the picture indicates. I thought it was fitting for the pattern.

Finally I started the Sweetheart Tree Holly Fob, but I think I'll be using it for an ornament instead of a scissor fob.

Ink Circles Ornament

I have a terrible cold and an ear infection I'm pretty sure. However, I'm trying to tough it out and cut down on my antibiotic use. I'm doing a little better today than I was yesterday. I did finish up this little ornament this weekend. It's the Ink Circles 2006 Ornament. I'll send out the chart to whoever emails me (autumn dot crochet at gmail dot com) first. The fabric is 32 ct. Tobacco (I think) and the thread is Carrie's Creations Raven.

Peacock

I have a slight peacock obsession. Peacocks and Scissors. Those are my two "things". Generally I go for the graceful, elegant type peacock designs, but I ran across this kit on ebay and it made me smile. It only took about 2 days stitching. I used the thread from the kit, which wasn't DMC I don't think. It was actually a fairly nice thread. I wondered what it was but the instructions and everything was entirely in Russian so I don't know. I used 22 ct. hardanger fabric so it would be fairly small. It's about 3" by about 4".

Twilight

Well I read the first book in about a 24 hour time period. It's safe to say I'm addicted now LOL Dammit I hate when I get on bandwagons!

New Glasses

Eva failed her eye test at school so we made a trip to the eye doctor. Poor kid was fairly blind. Fortunately the doctor said that aside from having astigmatism, he felt like her other problems would eventually go away through further development of her eyesight. So we picked out glasses. She looks so adorable in them. They're black, but they have a thin purple line around the edge so it makes them look dark purple and the color is really flattering to her. Thankfully she really enjoys wearing them and loves all the compliments she gets on them.

Lauren of course had to get in on the picture taking. That child is a camera hog.

And just to make sure all is fair....here's a picture of Maria and I

I'm dealing with a personal difficulty, that I'd really rather not discuss, but it's a frustrating situation for me. I'm trying to bury myself in anything that might take my mind off of it. Any new books or movies I should watch? I still have so much stitching to get caught up on, but that's just not doing it for me right now.

Sweetheart Tree Round Robin

Ok, this was a round robin from a while back. I think it was stitched in 2006/2007, but since I actually finished it up in 2008 I thought I better put that date on it. Wouldn't want to cheat or anything like that LOL Sorry about the wrinkly fabric. I don't trust my iron right now. Until I get a new one there will be no ironing of stitching.

What Have I Been Up To?

In a word (or two) not much. I don't think I've finished anything since E. I've been working on Mirabilia's Violet pixie. I got a little burnt out on it though. I'm doing another round robin. Any designer band sampler this time. I got a pretty good start on it. Enough to send it out anyway. First mailing isn't until the 29th. I also started Beloved but I can't decide if I'm happy with it. I'm using one strand of Belle Soie Noir on PTP 36 ct. Fog. I'm debating whether or not I like the coverage.

E Happy Dance

Stitched on 28 ct. Bo Peep Pink Linen

Home

We're back. Our power came back on far earlier than expected. We theorize it's because we live almost across the street from the elementary school. We did all our grocery shopping in Mississippi so I think we're in pretty good shape. I shopped anticipating a hit from Ike as well. Very few perishibles and lots of comfort foods LOL Hubby registered us with FEMA while we were in Biloxi so if we need to leave again we can stay in an approved hotel for free or at a reduced rate or something. Here's a picture from our back yard...

Before

After

And my most favorite little hangout/restaurant/bar/boat launch...pretty much destroyed. The river is extremely high right now. I've never seen it so flooded.

evacuation

we lasted about 48 hrs with no power and hauled ass to biloxi. hubby and i have taken two trips to beau rivage casino this summer. he called yesterday morning to see if they were open and they were so he made reservations until sunday.

we fared well through the storm. no damage to our house or any other relative's house. the damage in the area is extensive. it was worse, far worse, for our area than katrina. whenever the electric company guy for our area comes on the new he says we need to expect weeks and not days in terms of being without power. that's highly distressing.

anyway we're all doing ok for now.

Gustav

Looks like Gustav is indeed gonna hit S. Louisiana directly. If anyone is curious Google Port Vincent, LA and that's pretty much where I live. We were advised to evacuate this morning via Community Alert, but we're staying here and my parents are staying here (and they have the RV...and the generator). I've been in my "Impending Crisis Mode" all week so I think we're pretty well set. We're well stocked in terms of food, batteries, water, etc. I'm not so concerned about the storm or flooding directly, mainly just being without power for an extended period of time. The representative of our electric company was on the news this morning and he said that we could possibly expect outages in terms of weeks. I was sitting there thinking "Don't say things like that you bastard!!" LOL Anyway, we did ok during Katrina and Rita, while I expect this to be worse, I'm sure we'll come through this one ok too. We'll likely lose power tonight or early in the morning so I'll check back in on the other side.

Oh and on a stitching note I started Eleanor or "E" from Letter's by Nora (aka Mirabilia) and I'm about half through already. Might be done before the hurricane is over!

Anagram Les Ciseaux

Another finish! I don't have the picture on this computer, but here's a link to the Mirabilia Board where I posted a pic last night.

Linky

And Here She Is

Watch this Space

I should have a Halloween Fairy HD soon...

Progress

Well, I stood in my stash closet for awhile and stared at everything. I shifted a few things around but it didn't necessarily get "cleaned". After much deliberation I pulled out my Mother's Tree. I got about 2 numbers of one date stitched and decided that was enough of that. No, not really, I got distracted by the stuff I always get distracted by...kids, housework, internet...

Which Approach?

I relieved myself of the RR...and I do feel much relieved by that. Thanks to Kathy for offering to do the extra section! She really is such a sweet lady.

Now...I'm completely relieving myself of the guilt associated with having too many WIPs. I kinda feel like I need a fresh start. However, I can't decide if that should include completely cleaning out and reorganizing my stash closet or if I should just wade through the mess until inspiration hits. I started cleaning it out a few weeks ago and came up with a huge bag of charts and magazines I didn't want anymore. Perhaps if I clean more I can declutter more and thus feel less guilty about having such a messy stash closet. Or perhaps I should just stop babbling and sit down and stitch instead of using this as an excuse to procrastinate.

Progress

I admitted defeat and told Marjean that I just couldn't do her RR. I had already done most of one section, this was an extra section I was going to do. So I'm passing it along to someone else. There's still an open section if anyone wants to do it LOL

I Can't Do It

I can't get out of this stitching slump. I have one project that only needs like a couple days of work on it and I'd be done with it, but no....I just sit there and look at it hoping one day it'll be magically finished. I still have poor Marjean's Mirabilia RR and I haven't hardly worked on it either.

I'm having a little bit of negativity towards Mirabilia RRs right now. I don't think mine is coming back ever. I'm really not all that upset about it. I'm not angry or anything like that. I'm just disappointed I guess. I don't even care if this woman hasn't stitched on it. Just mail it back to someone...don't keep it. If something happened to it, just tell me, I don't care. I just hate not knowing and having to assume the worst.

Peacock Heart

I actually finished something. I haven't had a finish in quite awhile. In fact, it's been so long I had to go find something old to remember how to make my signature. Do symmetrical designs suck or what? There is just no room for fudging.



This is a freebie which can be found here. I used Gloriana Deep Blue Sea on some kind of mystery whitish fabric. I think it's 32 ct. Lugana but that's just a guess.

Mother's Day

I had a pretty nice day. I woke up to breakfast in bed. I got a potted hyacinth and card from Eva and Hubby. Lauren and Maria made these flower pens that were in a painted terra cotta pot. They were really cute. We went to church and I got flowers there. Then we had a crawfish boil and went swimming. Overall it was a good day. I was pretty exhausted.

Pictures

Here are some new pictures of the kids. Excuse me, "The Girls", everyone refers to them as The Girls. It always makes me laugh because even at school and stuff people always know which girls are "The Girls". And I think there's one or two of me in there too.

2008 Pictures


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Am I back?

I'm gonna try to be back. I've been in a stitching slump for such a long time. Not much has inspired me lately. And it can't be just me, but are all the boards just so uneventful? I have one more section to do on a Mirabilia RR and all that will be completely done. I've been neglecting it horribly, but I'm waiting on some thread I ordered. Yes, that's my excuse. In the meanwhile, I've been working on Anagram Diffusions Les Ciseaux. Just plain ole white fabric and plain ole DMC thread. I used the scanner so it's crooked and the colors aren't quite right, but you get the idea.

I REALLY am still alive

I've been very absent lately and I feel really bad about it. Things have just been very hectic at home and work has picked up considerably.

Not much stitching. I'm in the Mira RR on the WWRRB. So, mainly I'm just trying to keep up with that as best as I can.

I'm going to try to be better about posting...no promises though! LOL

I am alive

Sorry I've been gone so long. I don't know why. I've been busy at work and at home. I haven't been stitching. I guess I just haven't had much to say. Lauren and Maria's birthday was yesterday. They're three! Here are some pictures. Hopefully I'll have a stitching HD soon. I need to get caught up on my RRs!

Happy Mardi Gras

I'm at work today and it really sucks. However, I'm enjoying some Mardi Gras music. Here's a pretty good list if you want to check out some of the sounds of the season. They All Asked (Axed) for you is one of my particular favorites. And it's not MG with out Mardi Gras Mambo!

Mardi Gras

We did our Mardi Grasing this weekend. Saturday we went to Spanish Town Parade in Baton Rouge. That's a satirical parade and it's pretty risque. There was much putting down of Nick Saban, Gov. Blanco, Ray Nagin and William Jefferson. I saw way too many pictures of Britney Spears' naked crotch. We had a fantastic time though. Lauren and Maria fell asleep and I handed them off to my mom and husband. I put Eva on my shoulders and we got a ton of junk. We had so many throws when we left there, we could barely even carry it all back to the car.

I was going to go to New Orleans by myself on Sunday, but I ended up going with my parents, my aunt, and I relented and let Eva come with me. James and the twins stayed home. The day parades were great. We were on St. Charles St. in a perfect location and we got there early enough that we got primo spots right on the curb. We saw Okeanos, Thoth, and Mid-City during the day. Then there was this really short little weird parade of very scantily clad people playing very bizarre instruments. It was really entertaining. Then we decided to stay for Bacchus, James Gandolfini and Drew Brees were the King and Grand Marshall. That parade wasn't as much fun. They weren't throwing heavy and it was moving really fast. We left early, but once we got to the car we were blocked in by about 4 cars so we had to wait for all those people to show up so we could leave. It wasn't too bad though. Eva got a CD from one of the floats so we listened to Mardi Gras music and got warm. It was so cold. Then we went through all the stuff Eva got. I swear she got about 3 dozen stuffed animals.

It was a good weekend. I'm really sore from holding Eva on my shoulders so much and I'm sunburnt and my lips are burnt and I can't get my finger nails clean, but it was well worth it!

Nuthin Much

There's just not much going on. This weekend we didn't do too terribly much. Saturday we all went to the health club. I'm not liking the situation going on over there. They're undergoing massive renovations so they have all the cardio machines in what used to be the free weights room. It's pretty packed in there and the mirrors are everywhere. There's only one little tv, so basically all you have to look at is yourself and everyone else in the mirror. It's really unnerving. Our company is doing some of the work so I asked what the completion date is supposed to be, and it's like 2 months away at least. I'm determined to not let this distract me.

Friday I finished up a little stitching project, but I can't share it yet. Sunday I stitched just a little tiny bit. That's about it. The weather has been really nice so we've been outside all afternoon most days.

Watching the Sun Set

Here's the view from my back yard. That's our cat Angel. You'll notice his true self is showing through his devil eyes.

Rick Who?

The other day I was digging through a box of old letters. I found a whole ton...well like 12-15 notes and cards from someone that I can not remember for the life of me. They were from like 10-11 years ago. I have a vague feeling he was a pilot maybe? I can't recall anything else about him! How weird is that? I really think I have some sort of amnesia from that time in my life.

Still no stitching...

Work is a little slow

You are 67% Libra

How Libra Are You?

Hmmm...isn't this ironic?

You Belong in Summer

Energetic, creative, and very curious about the world... You're not going to let anything hold you back, especially a cold day. Whether you're chilling out at the beach or partying all night, you live for the warm weather.

What Season Are You?

I don't know. I think I'm pretty selfish

Your Love Number is 2

Of all the numbers, you are the most caring and empathetic lover. Unselfish and humble, you find it easy to forgive your sweetie's mistakes. At times, your need to please can be come a bit too needy. As long as you remain somewhat independent, your relationships are perfectly balanced.

What Is Your Love Number?

Your Linguistic Profile:

45% General American English

30% Dixie

15% Yankee

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Still no stitching

I didn't stitch last night at all. I got a very nice phone call instead.

I did have a good mail day! I got some lovely marking pins from WhizGidget for the Pay it Forward challenge. I'm having camera issues so I don't have a picture yet. And I finally got an order from Stitching Bits and Bobs that I've been waiting on forever! I got a bunch of silks, a few kreiniks, and 2 Papillon Creations charts, St. Sophia and Year's End.

Weekend Update

Not much going on. I went out to dinner with Marjean and Karen Saturday night. Then we had a high ole time at the Wal-Mart. I didn't stitch much at all this weekend. I'm having trouble with my fore arms hurting. They're feeling kind of better today, so maybe I needed to take a break.

Day Off

I took today off. I decided to let Eva stay home from daycare today. So the girls and I are hanging out at home today. It's actually not raining right now, but it's cold and wet and it's supposed to rain at some point today. I'm so tired of this!

I don't know what the hell happened to BlogPatrol, so found a new stats counter. It looks sort of sad sitting down there all little.

I'm still in my really bored phase. Nothing's working and I've been shopping which is bad! I haven't actually really spent a lot of money so it's not terrible. Although the scandal over Theresa's tattoo was pretty entertaining LOL I was wondering if that poor little boy was going to have a heartattack when she started taking off her uniform shirt. Ha ha ha ha!

Biscornu Received

Angi got the biscornu I sent her so now I can show it off. I really loved this one! The pattern is Bee Pinkeep from the January issue of Gift of Stitching. It's stitched on a Silkweaver solo that's sort of sky looking.

Snaggletooth

Eva lost her first tooth on the 23rd. She was pretty proud. It's not the best picture, but it's about the best I can get. She doesn't act normal when I'm trying to take pictures. She has to pose. And then everyone else has to get involved and it always turns into a huge photoshoot. Here's a few more pictures from that day.

Let's see. I haven't progressed much on LotM. I got sucked into the Mirabilia RR: Round Two. So I prepped and gridded my fabric for that. And I've been working on another little secret project. I've finished my part on it.

That's about it! Oh, I got my first Mirabilia RR back on Saturday, but I need to do a little work on it. Then I'll post a picture.

Present!

I received a gift from Susan saturday! I think it's so beautiful. And it was very timely too. Yesterday the little case that I keep my needles in was broken, I'm sure a little girl had something to do with it. So I'll be transferring my needles to the new needle case.

I've been cruising along on LotM. I've been getting a little antsy about working on something other than rose bushes. Sunday I did a little gridding on it so that I could skip around and also to make sure that my border came out even. I must have counted it about a hundred times, so I'm fairly certain it's correct. But I'll still doubt myself on that until all four corners come out correctly.

Where's the outrage?

Last week everyone was all a twitter about this woman and her shirt (warning adult content)and how horrible and skanky and uncultured she was. There was a national "interest" in the story and the woman and where she got the shirt.

Yet, look at this guy. There was a woman on the local news saying that there was a group of Bears fans that were giving some guy a hard time because he had lost his wife and son in Katrina. What the hell? I understand taunting fans, it goes with the territory, but that's going way overboard. Wouldn't that sort of be like telling Giants fans they were going down like the Twin Towers or something like that? As far as I've seen it's only been a local story!

I don't even want to talk about it..

Well, I'm a little sad about the Saints game (I won't start ranting about the unfair play calling). I'm still really proud of the team though. I know I have a lot of Pats fan reading this, but I was laughing when the Colts won. I'll have to pull for them, they have a lot of former LSU players.

The weekend was ok. It actually stopped raining on Saturday. Eva had a birthday to go to and it turned out to be really nice. They basically just turned the kids loose outside and all the moms hung out. I really like all of them. At every birthday party it's pretty much all the same moms that show up, so we've gotten to know each other pretty well.

Sunday....the rain came back and it's supposed to stick around until about Thursday. We didn't leave the house at all. We even skipped Sunday School, because I just couldn't deal with getting out in the rain.

About once a year, I get in this bored, restless phase and I'm just starting it right now. I spent most of the weekend prowling around looking for something to do. Throw in some insomnia and that makes for a long weekend. I'm exhausted today. However, I got some work done on the floral RR, a good bit done on LotM, and spent time playing on MySpace. I'm not a big MySpacer, I like never log in, but my cousin just made a page, so I had to look at that, then I found this girl that I went to school with that's into cross stitch, then I found my friend Darren's blog to commemorate his death, so that lead to finding a whole bunch of other people I know. It was kind of fun...a good time killer anyway.

Zombie

This weather we're having is sucking the life out of me. All this week it's been cold and raining. The raining stuff isn't anything new, I swear it's been raining for 2 months, but this week it's been COLD on top of it. And fun fun it's supposed to keep raining like this until at least Monday. Although, right now we're getting that really annoying light misty rain, and Saturday night we're supposed to have real rain. Anyway, I'm really draggin'. Yesterday I fell asleep twice in the afternoon and I can't get warm!

I'm making a little more progress on LotM...not much though

I just want to warn everyone, I may not be alive on Monday. The Saints are playing Sunday and I may have a heart attack watching the game. I'm just so freaking anxious about it. Much more than I should be I think, but you know, you have to have something to look forward to. Check out local radio host Matt Kennedy's blog. He has some Saints songs posted. There's one today and a couple of more on Jan 12. Superbowl Mambo is pretty cute.

Progress Pic 2

Here's LotM after about 2 more hours...I stitched while I watched American Idol. I'm glad Paula didn't show up drunk this time. Search YouTube for some of her recent interviews, they're hilarious.

Kicking Myself

I brought Lady of the Mist to work with my on Friday and forgot it not only over the weekend but last night too. However, I finished a Biscornu for an exchange. I'll have to post a picture later after my person has received it. I've been working on Renee's floral RR too. Hopefully I'll finish that up this week.

Not much else going on!

Little Update

On the MLK front, we were talking about him again yesterday and Eva told me he went around touching people. LOL I was dying laughing. My mom and I tried to explain that he touched people's lives.

On the stitching front. I finished a STRR over the weekend. This is for Jen. I'm so thankful for everyone in this RR being such good participants!









Because I'm such a wimp and just couldn't wait, I started Mirabilia's Lady of the Mist. I'm stitching it on 32 ct. Castle View Jazlyn from Silkweaver. If you're planning on stitching this too be aware that it will not fit on a 28 ct. Fat Quarter! It *just* barely makes it on a 32 ct. FQ. I have only about 1 1/2" on either side.





And for the Saints playing tomorrow night...WHO DAT??

There's a house that I have to take a picture of. Over the last several years they've sculpted a very large fantasy type scene on to the house, and recently they've painted the roof with black and gold fleur de lis and they morph into birds, and they have a huge black and gold Who Dat on one side of the roof. It's pretty cool!

Teaching Beyond Comprehension

Eva's in a Early Learning Center type daycare. She's learned a ton. In fact, there's times I think they've learned the entire Kindergarten curriculum. But sometimes, I have to wonder if they aren't teaching beyond what kids can understand. Last year, it was the Battle of Bunker Hill, and they had to draw a picture of what it meant to them. Her's was a hill with rainbows and people holding hands. It still cracks me up.

So yesterday I picked her up and she told me someone was having a birthday. I asked her who thinking it was someone in her class. She said it was someone brown from Australia. I thought she meant Tomas, who is dark skinned from South America. But no, she told me it was someone that was in jail. I'm thinking ok...who in the world is she talking about?? I asked her what his name was and she didn't know. Then she's like it's the bad man, in jail, that's brown from Antartica. Finally, I realized she she was talking about Martin Luther King, Jr. So we had to have a discussion about how he didn't go to jail (did he go to jail? because I couldn't specifically remember that) because he was bad but because he was trying to change the rules, etc. She didn't get it, so I just sort of dropped it when she changed topics of discussion. I thought it was funny though, not Australia, or Antartica, but Atlanta!

Extra Extra!!

Read all about it! Check out Stitching on the Bayou!

I finally finished the dreaded flower. Sorry Melanie, but I really didn't like this flower LOL No, I liked the flower, but I just didn't like stitching it. Anyway, it's a pattern from the DMC Club, under florals, it's the "Lis" pattern.

I may have another finish tonight or early tomorrow. I'm working on Jen's Sweetheart Tree RR and I'm about 2/3 through it.

Didn't do much else this weekend. Two of my aunts were in town from Texas and we spent Saturday with them.

Check it out

Linen and Lagniappe

Tornados, Murder and Rain Oh My!

Ok...we've had enough rain! The water was up to the roads again yesterday. That may not mean much but you have to understand we have like 10 ft. ditches around here!

2 People were killed in tornados that touched down in Iberia Parish. A man that lives near my in laws had his house destroyed. There was no confirmed tornado there. It was probably a mircoburst. We went through one of those a few years ago and it was pretty terrifying. I couldn't imagine what a tornado would be like.

This morning this headline caught my eye. It's only Jan 5 and at least 6 people have been murdered in New Orleans already. That city is dying on the vine and I have to wonder if it'll ever make it back. They had a press conference about how the murder rate was lower than it had been in a really long time. However, if you compare it on a per capita basis it was like 4 times higher than any other city. And they wonder why tourism hasn't come back and why the citizens won't return.

It just won't die

I thought this was pretty funny

Geaux Tigers!!!

Congratulations on winning the Sugar Bowl!! What a fantastic game! Barring any injuries I think Jamarcus Russell is going to have a bright future, despite the fact that my dad thinks he's a dumbass. I just love that they did so well.

Now, on to you LSU fans, LOL, just get over Nick Saban. I mean seriously, do you think the man sat around wondering the best way to screw LSU? After hearing the owner of the Dolphins last night, I suspect they encouraged him to take the Alabama deal. And how many people do you think can pass up $35 million? So just deal with it and look forward to November 3 when LSU will trounce all over "Goddamn Alabama".

Rain Rain Go Away

Saturday we got like 6" of rain in about 3 hours. Everything was so flooded, but most of the flooding receeded by the next morning. What's expected tonight and into tomorrow? Another 5" of rain! They've already posted flash flood watches for tomorrow! And can you believe we're still in a drought? LOL

We didn't do anything special for New Year's. Fireworks are legal where I live and there are a great many places that pop up this time of year to buy them. So at about 8 pm everyone started shooting their fireworks. It was pretty cold that night, in addition to everything still being soaking wet. So we got a bunch of blankets and pillows and we all got bundled up and laid out in the back of the pick up truck and watched the fireworks. It was pretty fun. Everyone had to outdo each other so we got a pretty good show. I actually got everyone to go to bed fairly early so I stayed up and watched movies and stitched. It was a nice night.

New Year's Day I spent at the cross stitch store. We all brought food so we ate and stitched and had a very nice time.

I'm hoping to finish that RR soon! Pray for me! LOL

Sweetheart Tree RR finish

I finished up my section on Ruth's RR last night. Really quick stitch! One day!

Pictures

Ok...here's a pic of Eva at her Christmas Pageant (she's not standing on anything, she really is that much taller than everyone else!)


Maria and Lauren on Christmas after opening presents



My mom's Biscornu. Pattern is Christmas Jewels from Just Nan



Dani's Sweetheart Tree RR. I finish up my section, at the bottom, last night. Pattern is from Treasured Trio

Christmas

I don't even know where to start. Friday Eva had a little pageant at school. It was cute. They sang songs and rang bells. Saturday we didn't do much, but it was my dad's birthday. We just had a little party with cake and ice cream. Sunday afternoon we went to church and Lauren and Maria were so BAD!! I was so frustrated with them that we left early. We were seated right in front of this water pool/fountain thing and they kept putting their hands in it and then they started throwing stuff in it. We went from there straight to my grandmother's house. We opened presents there. Eva finally got her electric Barbie karaoke guitar. That's been pretty amusing. She's been rocking out with Hannah Montana since then. Monday morning we didn't do much of anything except hang out and play with all the stuff Santa brought. Monday night we went to my parents' house to open more presents. Yesterday I didn't have to work, yay! So, we just bummed around and cleaned house and tried to teach Lauren and Maria how to ride their new bikes. It was exceedingly cold and very windy so that didn't last long!

All in all it was a good Christmas and the kids seemed to really enjoy it and got tons of presents. I got two $50 gift certificates to cross stitch places so I was happy about that!

Foggy Bottom

What a difference! Two weeks ago it was like 40 degrees and super dry. My hands were getting all rough. For the last week, it's been unbelievably foggy and warm. Yesterday the kids were playing outside in shorts and Tshirts. And the damn mosquitos were back. Do those things EVER die??? This morning I had to actually drive with the windshield wipers on and it wasn't even raining! Everything is just so wet. And we get to look forward to heavy thunderstorms this week, a nice weekend, and a rainy Christmas.

I'm sooooo close to finishing my mom's Christmas present. I finished all the stitching on it last night and started the beading. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the beading today and start on the finishing tonight. I think it's going to be so pretty. I'm doing Just Nan's Christmas Jewel with some of the colors changed a little bit.

So I was happy Yul won Survivor, although, Ozzie really deserved to win. And I have to say I think Ozzie looked way better on the island than he did on the finale show.

Saturday we went to a Christmas party and it was really a good time. I was reluctant to go because it was all people my husband knew. We brought the kids and Eva was like the belle of the ball. She'd just walk up to the other kids and say "Hi friend, want to play?" LOL Lauren and Maria were so good. Lauren had a diaper incident and had to go around pantsless for half the evening, but no one seemed to mind, least of all Lauren! There was a lot of eating and dancing.

Annmarie and Kristen, they played Strokin'. That song always makes me think of Mardi Gras. But I have to say, I don't think I ever realized how racy those lyrics are! I mean, I knew they were, but I guess I never listened that closely before LOL

New Jib Jab

I love the JibJab people. Nucking Futs - A Year in Review

Who Dat?!?

How bout them Saints?? Ok, right now, the Saints are the only thing about Louisiana I'm feeling good about. Reelecting William Jefferson?? Blanco putting on an eye patch at the Special Session...oh I was so embarrassed.

Not much else going on. Saturday we hit two birthday parties. Sunday we all went to church...fun! Not! LOL

I was really proud of Eva yesterday. My parents took her to a Christmas parade and they got there late so they were at the end of the route and a lot of the floats were out of stuff by time they got to them. My mom said that it didn't bother Eva and she kept telling everyone Merry Christmas. There was one lady that told Eva she didn't have anything left to give her. She said that was ok, Merry Christmas anyway. So the lady took this huge stuffed Santa off the float and gave it to her. My mom said that Eva had so much fun and shared her stuff with all the other kids around them and she was talking to all the people passing in the parade. I'm glad she behaved so well.

Other than that, I'm just stitching away on my mom's Christmas present! I should have it finished by the end of the week I should think. Maybe not the finishing, but all the rest.

Where to start??

Ok...well the 3rd serial killer in South Louisiana was finally caught last week. I had to laugh on Criminal Minds recently when they said something to the effect that it was really rare to have more than one serial killer operating in any one area. That's 3 caught here in the last 4 years. And there's at least two more operating...one officially the I-10 killer and another that hasn't been officially acknowledged but when Derrick Todd Lee was operating all the profilers identified it as another serial killer, but local officials seem reluctant to declare it as such. Do you see why we have so many?

Thursday was taken up with Eva and an ear infection. I felt so bad for her Wednesday night. She was practically hysterical from pain, but I had given her everything I could think of. Since Katrina, you can't get in an emergency room for hours and it was already 2 am and her doctor's office opened at 7, so I really wanted her to hang on until then. Plus, our ER copay is $300 and the doctor copay is $20, so that was another big thing. So, I had driven her around earlier to help her go to sleep and that worked in the car, but when I brought her inside she woke up again. So at around 2:30 I couldn't take it anymore, I was going to take her to a small hospital that hopefully wasn't quite so busy, but she feel asleep pretty hard on the drive there, so I turned around and parked in the driveway and slept in the car with her. We got her to her regular doctor and got her all medicated and she's doing much better. That was the first ear infection in like 2 years. I'm really pleased she went that long!

Saturday we went to a little party my mom had. It was a ladies social type thing. There were a lot of people there! And so many kids! I saw people I hadn't seen in quite awhile. Ms. Laurel was there with Amanda and her new baby which she named Darren in honor of his uncle that died a year ago this week. His death still really upsets me in way that I would have never thought. Ms. Lauren was there with a herd of daughter in laws and their kids. Amy was there with her new baby. She was brand new, like 2 weeks old. Her name is Jewel. We (as in our family) didn't even know she was pregnant much less just had a baby! Anyway, it was a good time and the girls behaved wonderfully. Lauren just attached herself to "Titi DeeDee", it was cute. Eva couldn't say Auntie when she was little so now all the aunts are Titis and all the uncles are Kikis.

Then I got to watch USC's shameful loss to UCLA. Yay!! Man...I loved it! And those Saints were looking pretty fantastic again today!!

The girls are playing outside as I'm typing this, every now and then one runs past the window and it's so funny bacause they're all bundled up, but they have their fairy wings on over their coats. Oh and are my kids morbid or what?? Last night they were playing Dead Fairies. One would be dead and the others would fuss over her and ask her not to be dead. At least they weren't fighting I guess!