First of all, thanks for all the nice compliments on the Autumn Leaves and the Autumn Is In The Air finishes! I really appreciate you taking time to look and comment...
My next project is from the JCS Christmas Ornament magazine for 2008. I started Glory To God by Little House Needleworks tonight...I have a great start on it too! With all the good Hallmark movies this week, I ought to be able to finish this one pretty quickly!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Autumn Is In The Air Is Finished!
I have been stitching like crazy on my Autumn Is In The Air by Brittercup since I finished Autumn Leaves. I REALLY want to stitch some Christmas things, but this was about halfway done, so I made myself finish it first. It was really touch and go last night because I had to take out everything I had done the night before. I tried to just deal with it being a stitch off one direction and a thread off in the other direction, but it made parts of it look crowded since it was too close together without the extra stitch, and so I decided to give in to my OCD traits and do it over. It looks a LOT better so I'm glad I did! Here's a picture:
Now on to stitch some Christmas oraments from the 2008 JCS Ornament Issue...
Now on to stitch some Christmas oraments from the 2008 JCS Ornament Issue...
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thanksgiving Memories
You are going to want to skip this one if you are squeamish about animals hunting other animals, which is what animals do, but it can be upsetting if it a domestic animal hunting. To me anyway. I think about this every Thanksgiving morning and it's only in the last couple of years that it has not really bothered me.
Funny (now) Thanksgiving story...
This took place in either 2001 or 2002...I think it was 2001. I had both Daisy and Rose, and I got Rose in April of 2001.
My mother and I always had orange rolls for breakfast on Thanksgiving, and so I had them in the oven and went to get her up. I went back to the kitchen and got them out and was putting the icing on them where I heard a squeak from outside. I looked out the kitchen window, and Daisy and Rose each had one end of a rabbit. That upset me on several levels...number one, I LOVE bunny rabbits and have a collection of them (not the real ones obviously with 4 dogs and a cat) and this one had just gone to bunny heaven, and number two, my dogs had something that had recently been alive and were playing tug-of-war with it. I was horrified. So I ran out in the yard, still in my polar bear print pajamas, and started yelling at them. Rose, the more compliant and easily scared of the 2, immediately dropped her end and came down to the patio. Daisy, now triumphant with the trophy, took off for the back part of the yard.
Now, what a thinking, sane person would do is get something to lure the dog away from whatever it is they shouldn't have, secure the dog, and then go deal with the situation. I was not thinking, and there are some who question my sanity, so what I did was grab a shovel and take off for the back part of the yard too. I ran after her and of course, she did what dogs do when being chased: she ran like mad. So I ran too, a fat woman approaching middle age in polar bear pajamas. She continued to run, and continued to carry her trophy. So I continued to huff and puff and yell after her, and for some reason that made sense only in my mind at the moment, started swinging the shovel. I would have done a medieval Celtic warrior proud.
At this point, the back door opened, and my mother stepped out on the patio to see why her daughter had gone berserk. She had picked up one of the orange rolls and stood there munching and watching. That agitated me further and so I started yelling at her to come help me. Around a mouthful of orange roll, she said "What do you want me to do?" in a tone that implied 1) I'm in my 70s and if you think I'm chasing after that crazy dog, you're crazier than she is, and 2) I'm eating my breakfast. All this time, Daisy kept running until I stopped for a minute, and then she would stop and stand over her prize and when I started running, she started running...never dropping her trophy for a minute. At some point in the chase, I started crying.
Seeing the orange roll gave me the idea (finally) to get some kind of food and see if I could lure her to me. So I quit swinging the shovel and screaming and went to get some cheese and managed to get her close enough that I could grab her. She had some blood on her feet and legs (which is surprising given that the rabbit didn't seem to be really hurt...other than being dead I mean) and once I dragged her by her collar into the house I had to clean that up. When we got in the house, my mother was sitting at the table eating orange rolls. I was still crying and now was blubbering that after having a taste of blood Daisy was going to revert to a wild wolf dog and I was going to have to put her to sleep because she would attack every warm-blooded thing in her path.
We all recovered (some of us more slowly than others) and went on to have the Thanksgiving that we always had...with the exception that some of my relatives thought is was entertaining to tease me by asking if we were having rabbit stew instead of turkey. We did have turkey, by the way.
I am wearing those same polar bear pajamas this morning as a matter of fact...I love these pajamas.
Funny (now) Thanksgiving story...
This took place in either 2001 or 2002...I think it was 2001. I had both Daisy and Rose, and I got Rose in April of 2001.
My mother and I always had orange rolls for breakfast on Thanksgiving, and so I had them in the oven and went to get her up. I went back to the kitchen and got them out and was putting the icing on them where I heard a squeak from outside. I looked out the kitchen window, and Daisy and Rose each had one end of a rabbit. That upset me on several levels...number one, I LOVE bunny rabbits and have a collection of them (not the real ones obviously with 4 dogs and a cat) and this one had just gone to bunny heaven, and number two, my dogs had something that had recently been alive and were playing tug-of-war with it. I was horrified. So I ran out in the yard, still in my polar bear print pajamas, and started yelling at them. Rose, the more compliant and easily scared of the 2, immediately dropped her end and came down to the patio. Daisy, now triumphant with the trophy, took off for the back part of the yard.
Now, what a thinking, sane person would do is get something to lure the dog away from whatever it is they shouldn't have, secure the dog, and then go deal with the situation. I was not thinking, and there are some who question my sanity, so what I did was grab a shovel and take off for the back part of the yard too. I ran after her and of course, she did what dogs do when being chased: she ran like mad. So I ran too, a fat woman approaching middle age in polar bear pajamas. She continued to run, and continued to carry her trophy. So I continued to huff and puff and yell after her, and for some reason that made sense only in my mind at the moment, started swinging the shovel. I would have done a medieval Celtic warrior proud.
At this point, the back door opened, and my mother stepped out on the patio to see why her daughter had gone berserk. She had picked up one of the orange rolls and stood there munching and watching. That agitated me further and so I started yelling at her to come help me. Around a mouthful of orange roll, she said "What do you want me to do?" in a tone that implied 1) I'm in my 70s and if you think I'm chasing after that crazy dog, you're crazier than she is, and 2) I'm eating my breakfast. All this time, Daisy kept running until I stopped for a minute, and then she would stop and stand over her prize and when I started running, she started running...never dropping her trophy for a minute. At some point in the chase, I started crying.
Seeing the orange roll gave me the idea (finally) to get some kind of food and see if I could lure her to me. So I quit swinging the shovel and screaming and went to get some cheese and managed to get her close enough that I could grab her. She had some blood on her feet and legs (which is surprising given that the rabbit didn't seem to be really hurt...other than being dead I mean) and once I dragged her by her collar into the house I had to clean that up. When we got in the house, my mother was sitting at the table eating orange rolls. I was still crying and now was blubbering that after having a taste of blood Daisy was going to revert to a wild wolf dog and I was going to have to put her to sleep because she would attack every warm-blooded thing in her path.
We all recovered (some of us more slowly than others) and went on to have the Thanksgiving that we always had...with the exception that some of my relatives thought is was entertaining to tease me by asking if we were having rabbit stew instead of turkey. We did have turkey, by the way.
I am wearing those same polar bear pajamas this morning as a matter of fact...I love these pajamas.
Thanksgiving Morning Musings
Happy Thanksgiving to you all! This holiday is kind of bittersweet for me - when my parents were alive, my mom had the family (aunts and uncles) over and cooked dinner here. My father died in January 2000 but we kept having the dinner...I think that 2003 was the last one. My mother was diagnosed with lung cancer in April of 2004, and that year she cooked a small dinner for just the 2 of us. She died in March 2005. One of my fears about losing my parents was the holidays. I have a wonderful friend named Chanin who, in mid-July, announced that I was coming to Thanksgiving and Christmas at her house that year. She will probably never know how much that meant to me. The next year, I was dating Bosco's former human, and he and I spent the holidays together. Last year, my friend David (the Bosco wrangler of the Santa picture experience) invited me to have the holidays with his mother and their family. I have known him since we worked together at the first job I had out of college (has it really been 23 years?!) and know his family as well, so I ate Thanksgiving dinner with them. Part of my family's Thanksgiving dinner was mashed potatoes and green peas, and his mom fixed those for me at her house too. One of my other friends invited me to come hang out at her house and watch movine and stitch, but I couldn't do both, and dinner won out! LOL Last Christmas, I was really sick, and slept through Christmas. I am going to dinner at David's again today, and possibly Christmas as well.
What I'm thankful for today is the wonderful friends I have who understand what it is to be alone in the world and invite me to be a part of their families. It is an indescribable comfort to know that there are people in my life who love me like family and are there for me. I am also thankful to be able to love and be there for them.
I'm thankful that I had the great parents that I did and that I got to have them as long as I did.
I'm thankful for my dogs, who are the love of my life, even though they are sometimes the bane of my existence.
I'm thankful for a secure and safe home, and a car to take me where I need to go.
I'm thankful for the fact that I had enough money in savings to help me get through this year of being unemployed.
I'm thankful for my health, especially for my vision that allows me to stitch and read, and for my hearing that allows me to hear music.
There are so many other things in my life to be thankful for as well...I am truly blessed.
What I'm thankful for today is the wonderful friends I have who understand what it is to be alone in the world and invite me to be a part of their families. It is an indescribable comfort to know that there are people in my life who love me like family and are there for me. I am also thankful to be able to love and be there for them.
I'm thankful that I had the great parents that I did and that I got to have them as long as I did.
I'm thankful for my dogs, who are the love of my life, even though they are sometimes the bane of my existence.
I'm thankful for a secure and safe home, and a car to take me where I need to go.
I'm thankful for the fact that I had enough money in savings to help me get through this year of being unemployed.
I'm thankful for my health, especially for my vision that allows me to stitch and read, and for my hearing that allows me to hear music.
There are so many other things in my life to be thankful for as well...I am truly blessed.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
It's Finally Finished!
Prairie Schooler Autumn Leaves is finally finished! I sat and watched 2 movies on the Hallmark channel tonight and finally got the rest of the bottom filled in. I went to my LNS on Saturday and met with 2 of my friends and we stitched for the afternoon. I think I'm going to work a little bit on the Brittercup Autumn Is In The Air piece, but as of Thanksgiving Day I will start Christmas themed things. I have several ornaments from this years JCS Ornament Issue that I have kitted up and I'm looking forward to stitching some things that are seasonal that will actually get finished that season! LOL
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