Not Stitching

But here is a project I worked on today.  I am going to try to do them for presents....

Its Finished!

Great Lakes Lowland Sampler was finished this evening.  I am so happy to have it done now. The spots on either side on the top are where my iron dripped a bit on the fabric, not stains.   I will have to post a more in depth update later, I just wanted to crow that this piece is done, down to the pressing.   Sometime after the first of the year, I will frame it up.  Especially if I end up picking up more hours at work, but more on that later.  I need to run through the shower and head off to bed.  Hope you all have had a good weekend and later!!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  We had stayed in town with Greg's dad and step-mom and got a visit from his sister and her family on their way to Ft Smith, AR.  It was nice to not have to drive up to Wichita, especially since we had Aiden's birthday on Saturday, too.  I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures from Thanksgiving.  I am sooo organized, not.

This is our little "princess" complete with a used belt sander belt tiara.  She was playing princess mommy and I tried to get a picture of her unaware, but it didn't turn out very well.  We don't usually have used belt sander belts lying around, but we did a minor home improvement project since Greg had extra time off.  Here is a picture of the seat in our bay window as it looked when we bought the house...

Not sure if you can tell here, but it is upholstered with a brown upholstery fabric shot with blue and rust threads.  It was ok, but after three kids, it had come un stapled from the back edge and was really hard to vacuum clean.  The bay window is a favorite cat perch and that fabric was just like flypaper to the cat hair.  So I pulled it up and found a really nice woodwork detail that Greg has spent that last few days fixing.  The wood had cupped on a few boards and shrunk, so he removed it all, re fitted them, re stained and poly-ed them.  Here is the result.

Now, I still have to refinish the facing and the drawers, but for now, that will wait.  Its too close to Christmas to start that project, too.  And lest you think I didn't stitch any, here is Great Lakes Lowland.  Not a huge amount of progress, but there is some.

I guess I should wrap this up.  My last load of laundry (for the day) just finished spinning.  They are just sheets, so I may hang them out in the cold air and let them get really fresh in the cold.  Everyone take it easy!

Finally, a finish!!

I can finally report a finish!  I guess I should thank Nancy for doing a little prodding to keep me going on it.  I probably wont get it framed until after the beginning of the year, but by then I hope to have Great Lakes Lowland done, too. 

And lastly, this is what happens when you get interrupted when cleaning out kitchen cupboards and have to be away for more than five mins.  This is Pimple and Floofy, lounging in the dishes cupboard.. Silly kitties.

November 20 update

Sorry for the not so great picture of my WIP.  I was in a hurry to get this picture and update up.  It has been a very busy week, as they always seem to get around this time of year.  I only have about 4 more rows on this and I am trying to get it done.  Bad time of year for that. lol

Yesterday was a FUN day.  Not like big things went wrong, but just a lot of little ones.  You know its not good when you realize you brought home the work keys at midnight the night before. 

So, I get up and start getting the kids ready to go to school and to take the keys back to work.Everything is good, Greg takes off and I go to get my keys when I realize they are on the front seat of the Mustang, on the way to Wichita with Greg....DAMN.  Kids, get your butts in gear we need to hustle to school.  Its only about 3 blocks, but when they need to be there no later than 8:10 and its after 8 already.

Managed to get them there on time, just, and get back home to feed Mariska.  Promptly fall asleep sitting on the couch.  Wake up at about 11 am and call Mariska in to preschool, not because she is sick, but because mom is an idiot.  Patrick has his 1st grade Thanksgiving feast and I need to bring 50 servings of something.  I have already decided to do mini pumpkin bread muffins.  I get everything (hahaha) out that I need to realize that I don't have any oil.  Crap!  I call father-in-law to see if I can borrow any and if he can run it over.  No answer.  I finally borrow some from my neighbor (Thanks Nancy) and start to mix stuff up just to realize now that I don't have any baking soda...panic.  I can't go begging next door again, so I go off to hit the net and see if I have any alternative.  Find out I can use self rising flour and omit the soda and salt.  I don't have the whole 3 1/2 cups, but I do have almost 2.  So we used that and 1 1/2 cups of regular flour.  They did come out ok and in just the nick of time.  Pulled the last pan out of the oven at 2 and needed to be to the school at 2:15.  Again, just the nick of time. 

Work was ok, picked up some extra hours buffing the floors on one of the other dr.s offices.  And it was nice to get out of the house, put on my ipod and just zone. 

Today, Patrick complained of his tummy hurting and I told him he had to go and if he still didn't feel well later, I would come and get him  99% of the time he is ok and I don't hear from his again.  Today he called at around 10:30 and is now home on the couch watching TV.  I am about to take his little sister to school and come home and do some laundry and stitch. 

Looking for opinions.

I went to one of the thrift shops in town yesterday and I found a frame for a quarter.  It is a nice wood frame, so I picked it up.  I was thinking about framing The Sweetheart Tree's "The Price of Freedom" in it for Greg.  What opinions do you all have? 

Iv'e been tagged

6 Things About Me

I was tagged by Patty  to share six things about me.
The rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

 

I haven't done this before so, here it goes...

 1. I am adopted.

2. When I was almost 5, I was kicked in the face by a horse and my nose, orbitals and tearducts are all rebuilt (poor mans version of Six Million Dollar Man.  You know, " We can rebuild him, we have the technology....)

3. I played clarinet and bass clarinet from 6th grade through most of high school, but I always wanted to play trumpet or guitar.

4. I hate driving.  No reason, just don't like to do it.

5. I can troubleshoot a PCB (printed circuit board) to the component level after and in-circuit test.

6. I worked in a hospital kitchen for 6 years during high school and college.

 

Now, I tag...

Angie

Christine

Christine in IN

Carla

Nothing much to report

I have decided to be better about posting.  I don't' have anything new to post on the stitching front.  Been working too much to get much stitching done.  And since I just received the new Stephen King book in the mail today, I doubt I will get much done for a while

I do have some photos of a house they are moving in town.  Greg looked at this house when we were looking 3 years ago.  The local Methodist church owned the place and was asking only $29K for it, but you had to move it.  They wanted the land for a parking lot.  It is over 100 years old, 3K sq feet, six fireplaces (3 chimneys) numerous built ins.  I didn't get to go into it, but I looked in the windows the other day.  It looks fantastic!  But we couldn't come up with land and the $$$ to move and then repair the place.  Moving costs were quoted at over 100K because of the partial masonry and all the chimneys.  I guess the church ended up giving the house away, but it is still gonna cost some change.  The people that took it are able to do the repair and restoration work themselves on the weekends until it is finished, according to the paper. 

Front of the house,  Porch has been pulled off and the house is roughly 5 feet in the air right now.

Here is the back where they have had to remove 12 feet of the kitchen.  It had windows all the way around.  Looked really nice.

The side where one of the chimneys was removed.  I wish I could be there when the actually move the house.  It still amazes me they can do this.

 

Have a good rest of the week all!

Happy (?) November!

Well, it has finally decided to feel like late fall here, just south of Oz, in the backwaters of Kansas.  Cloudy, cold rain and the high temp is only supposed to be 49.  Still, I could be in South Dakota or North Dakota.  Sitting here at the puter with the thermostat set at 65 and a sweatshirt and shoes on.  All I really want to do is crawl back under the big fluffy comforter on my bed, or the afghan that my grandma made me on the couch.  Ah well

Nothing much new going on here.  Greg is working on helping his plant get the inventory and assets moved up to Wichita and Norman from the plant they closed in Apodaca, Mexico.  Apparently it has not been the easiest of transfers because inventory lists don't match what is actually showing up, so they are scrambling to find room for it all.  Keeps him busy, which actually keeps him happy.  His cholesterol has been good, BP good and the blood sugars have been reasonable.  He did let it get down to 40 the other morning, but he promised that won't happen again. 

Bekah got all A's in school, which is what I expected.  She is reading at what they judge a 5th grade level.  That doesn't surprise me.  Both parents love to read, she didn't stand a chance. :)  We have worked diligently on the spelling after two really atrocious tests first part of the year and she consistently gets 100% or misses only one.  She is starting to try and assert independence and I am finding that I have to pick and choose more battles.  The other day it was over wearing a jacket to school.  She didn't want to even though it was only going to be in the mid 60's.  Fine, but when we walked home and she started complaining about being cold I just said tough. You made your choice.  Not that it is that far to walk home, only about 3 blocks.

Patrick, has been a bit of a stinker.  He really needs to be challenged, apparently.  He gets bored too easy.   We talked about this with his teacher, and found out why he was getting cards pulled.  (Their way of discipline.  Green=ok  Yellow=warning Orange=miss 5 mins of recess and so on..)  Turns out he was being a wiggle worm and not allowing others to work.  And he feels that coloring with crayons is below him.  He wants to use markers, so he was just scribbling with the crayons.  We had a talk with him and discussed what he was expected to do and today is the first time all year he gets to go to the treasure box!  He had only one Yellow in the last two weeks.  I am so proud of this, because I know how much work went into this for him.  His grades were great.  He is reading chapter books, reads at almost a 3rd grade level and catches on to math concepts quickly.

Mariska is enjoying her preschool and has learned to sight recognize almost all of her letters now, something I was having a hard time with.  She could recognize the W in Walfart, but I couldn't associate the letter with its name.  DeAnna really made good strides with her.  She is smart and stubborn and causes even more grey hair for mom and dad.

On the stitching front, I updated my progress on Great Lakes and Atlantic Seaboard in my WIP folder.  Haven't felt much like stitching lately.  I need to get so much stuff done and I just don't have any motivation.  All I feel like doing is sleeping. 

Speaking of stuff to do, off I go to clean a rabbit cage and reboot laundry.  Take it easy everyone and I will sit down and catch up again on all your blogs later today. 

WIP

Pieces I am working on

Bekah's Cheering

Just thought I would post a quick one with Bek's cheerleading picture.  Will update the stitching later today. 

My birthday

Start:

Oct 18, '08

Long overdue

I have been meaning to update this blog but just kept putting it off and putting it off.  That and I have been busy.  Bekah is in cheer leading and Girl Scouts, Patrick is in Boy Scouts and Mariska has been going to preschool again this year.  Well, most of that stuff is Mondays and Saturdays, so those afternoons are shot.  Then I work T-Th evenings and every other w/e.  More time eaten up.  I have barely done any stitching.  

Up above is what I have gotten accomplished on "Atlantic Seaboard".  I don't know how many times I frogged the tartan section.  It is all done with one strand, over one. And I kept making small mistakes that would throw the whole thing off.  Or in the case of the big blue section in the middle, I used the wrong overdyed blue.  I am still not completely happy with it, but I will be d*mned if I am going to frog the whole thing AGAIN!!!!

Here is the progress on "Great Lakes Lowland"  I haven't had nearly the trouble with it that I had with AS.  It is coming along nicely and I hope to pick it up this weekend and work on it. 

Well, I need to get off to finish picking up the living room so I can get to work on time for once.  It is nice having a job where as long as your work is done before 7AM, no one cares what time you come in to work.  But I do like to be home sometime to sleep. 

Hope you are all well and that your weather is as gorgeous there as it is here.  TTYL!

They are done!!!!!!!!!

The floors had been officially called done.  Here is a picture of the entry way with three or four coats of poly (I forget), complete with Rose and Floofy checking it out.

And here is the living room floor, again with Rose (what a camera hog, lol) and CG. Greg is home for the day, so we are hoping to get the furniture back in and TV set back up and get some xbox time in before the kids get home.  What a nice 10th anniversary present!

I will update on the stitching front a bit later.  I do have a little bit done on both pieces, but I have to find the battery charger for the camera.  They are about dead.  Later all and have a great day!

Trying this again

This is the second post I have tried.  My ISP lost connectivity just as I was saving and publishing the last one.  AAARRRGGGHHHH

Long update since I haven't posted in a while.  Greg has decided he wants to get back into fishing again.  He mostly did fly fishing, but has decided to just go with fishing for catfish and bullhead.  He took all of us out weekend before last, and hooked two, but only really landed one.  The first was a blue cat, about 10-12" that slipped the hook and right into the water after just getting on shore.  The second was a 14" carp that we released.  He really needed to have bigger hooks, not trout hooks. 

He then talked his mom into bringing out an old canoe that he had used when he was in high school.  It is a nice little, blue canoe, but small.  Way too small for two big people.  We both got soaked, twice last weekend.  Not my idea of fun, and I was very glad I brought a book and not my stitching.  I don't care for fishing, much.  Too many summer weekends spent on various lakes in NW Iowa and SW Minnesota.  So I brought a book to read,  Greg was fine with that, he just wanted me to come.  I was very very glad it was not an expensive book, or a favorite, as it got left in the trashcan after floating in the lake.  He did go out the next afternoon and was fine with just himself in the boat. 

The kids left for the Grands' in Beulah, Co last Friday.  They were up and raring to go at like 5am.  Me, I saw them off then went back to bed and slept until 11am.  They should be back late this week or early next week. 

Bekah had permission to get her hair cut the way she wanted while she was at Grandma's.  Between you, me and the fencepost, I am not happy.  She had almost waist length, strawberry blonde/red hair.  Here is what she has now...

Now, she likes it, so I won't let her know that I don't.  She did donate her hair to locks of love, so some good came out of this.  She has never had bangs, or hair this short except when she was very small.  I will just have to get used to it, I guess....

Anyway, with this kids gone, this is what we have gotten accomplished with the floors.

Here is the entry way, stained and ready for the poly.  We spent part of Sat afternoon, and all of sunday sanding.  That made a HUGE mess, but I am so glad it is out of the way.  Now, as soon as Greg gets home, we are going to do the first coat of poly.  The stain isn't quite as red as the photos show, but it does have some red to it.  And it looks nice.  If you want to see a couple of other pics, they are here. The last three pictures.

I am going crazy without my tv or xbox.  We just picked up a couple of more games and I think I really like one of them, Dead Rising.  Its an homage to Romero's "Dead" movies.  You are trapped in a mall with zombies and survivors and have to survive 72 hours for your helicopter to get back to you.  With the work on the floors, we had to take the tv and stuff apart and out of the living room.  There is no other place to put it, everything is stacked in the dining room.  I am hoping to get to play again later this week. 

That is about all for now.  Off to check others' updates and get ready to poly.  Talk to you all later.

 

"The Mist"

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Horror

Based on a Stephen King short story/novella, this movie stayed really close to that story. The CGI was used to great advantage and the mist was used to keep the suspense up. I really started to get into the whole feeling of being with these people, stuck in a grocery store (there are worse places to be stuck) when a mysterious mist containing even more mysterious creatures, rolls into town. Hats off to Marica Gay Harden, as the VERY religious Mrs Carmody, who get pushed just a bit over the edge. My beef is that the screenwriters chose not to go with the ambigious but at least a little upbeat ending in the story and instead gave it a depressing, but tied up ending. Whether they did the original ending and it tested badly, I don't know, but I dont' understand the motivation in messing with the original story when they had stuck so close to the source material up until then. Not nice.

"The Kite Runner"

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Khaled Hosseini

This book was, in my opinion, a great read! It achieved what Forsyth's "The Afghan" did not. It managed to give and overview of the Afghan culture and the things that led up to the Taliban taking over, at the same time making me actually care about the characters. Now, granted, they are two different genres of books, but I enjoyed this one sooo much more, I was even able to overlook the "yeah right" factor at a couple of points. I would recommend this read to anybody. I tried to watch the movie, but found I missed the mental aspect, the getting into the characters thoughts and feelings, that are important to me with this story.

3:10 to Yuma

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Westerns

I liked this movie a lot, overall. I just couldn't quite give it five stars. The acting was great, it was a good, suspenseful western with great scenery shots (required for a western in my book). The greatest fault I find with it is the ending. Without giving away anything, I just didn't find what Russell Crowe's actions at the end to be in line with the way the character acted through the rest of the movie. That was the only thing that caused me to give it only four stars. Overall, I felt it was a really good western.

Working on the house

Pictures of various work we have done to the house since we moved in

Never let Greg and Julie get bored

Ok, so I fat fingered that last entry and ended up posting before it was ready.  Here are the rest of the updates

Life goes on as usual.  Same ole' same ole'.  Kids have been playing and I have had to put the clamps on a couple of kids being over here all day, every day.  I am NOT a freebie babysitting service, or lunch counter.  If you want lunch, go home.  It has gotten better, though.  They are at least not showing up at 9am anymore.  Its usually 12 or 1 now and I insist that they are gone by 4:30. 

Greg and I were sitting around on the Monday after the 4th, watching DIY network and discussing things we want to do to the house.  One thing I wanted to do is to put a tin ceiling in the bathroom.  Where Greg likes to soak and steam, it is causing the paint to peel.  I think the tin ceiling would be a solution, as well as being relatively period to the house (Early 1900's-1920 some time).  We got talking about the carpet in the living room and entry and how it was getting threadbare in places and coming up in others and just smelled from pets.  I figured we had hardwood underneath it but he was afraid there had been a floor heater in the middle of the living room as there was a place that moved when you stepped on it.  So we decided  to pull it up, back to the soft spot and if it was going to be costly, we would lay the carpet back down and figure something out.  Well, we got the carpet up, and not only was it just one loose floorboard, this is what we found..

Now, understand, it needs sanded and refinished, but it is in really good shape, considering its age.  Where the floorboards change color, is where they intended for you to put an area rug.  So the pattern in the floor, which comes in about three feet, doesn't go to the center of the room, but it does in the entry.  Here is a picture of that.  As you can see, the floor here is in slightly rougher shape, but most of that is old finish that came off when I had to scrub to get the old padding up that had stuck to the floor.  The pattern reminds me of a log cabin quilt block pattern and does come all the way into the middle of the room.  So when the kids go to Colorado in the beginning of August, Greg and I will be sanding and refinishing the floor.   I love hardwood, it is soooo much easier to keep clean that carpet, and doesn't trap odors. I didn't realize how badly those rooms smelled until the carpet was gone.  And its funny to watch the cats try and run on it when they are playing.

I guess that is the major update.  I am going to try and spend some time catching up on other people's blogs now.  TTYL!

Join the Dark Side, Luke.

Or actually, Bekah.  I have converted another to the joys and frustrations of cross stitch.  Here is a photo of Bekah's first project.   I believe it is sideways in the photo.  Its a $2 kit from Michael's of a smiling daisy.  Not my cup of tea, but she is enjoying doing it.  We won't talk about the back.  She is still learning, but the front looks good, all the stitches go the same way.

 

And not to be out done, here are updates on my two projects.  First, "Great Lakes Lowland".  I have made some decent progress on this one. 

 

 

Next, there is "Eastern Seaboard".  not as much progress, but I finally finished the d*mned lobster traps.  But, only after frogging them 3 times!!!

Sexy

Don't know who made it, but it makes me grin!:)

Maximum Ride :Final Warning

Rating:	★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	James Patterson

I was really let down by this book. I have read the first three and throughly enjoyed them, even though they are geared toward teenaagerss. I waited for my BIL to finish to borrow this book and set on it quickly. I was first disappointed by the length of the book. Right around 270 pages. Then the plot, or a sort of lack of plot. This isn't even the same ol' same ol' that he has done with the Cross series. This is just completely lacking in an engrossing plot. Then there is the global warning soapbox of the book. I am not denying that global warming is an issue we need to deal with, but perhaps using something more subtle than a sledge hammer weilded by a blind guy to get your point across would be better. Overall, if the rest of the series goes this way, I won't be reading anymore.

Bathroom update and other stuff

Here is the bathroom done to the point it is useable.  I need to do the painting and the sink still needs to be put in.  But, overall, it is an improvement over what it was.  The lineoleum still needs glued down, too.  I will be glad when life settles down.   hhahhaha  Like that ever happens.

Not a whole lot new going on here.  I did do some work on Atlantic Seaboard.  It is going, slowly.  I am going to get this row done, then work on Great Lakes Lowland.  I just either haven't had the time, or the motivation to do any stitching.  I may have to talk to my dr. about my meds.  Of course, if I could remember to take it consistently, every day, it would probably help.

That's about it.  Hope you all are doing well and have a good one.  Till next time...

Plumbers, or Greg drops the f-bomb part deux

The plumber who had put in the flange for the toilet had decided it would be a good idea to cut a 8" section out of a floor joist.....

Measure four times, cut once and still drop the f-bomb.....

To quote Bob Euker from Major League, "Juuust a bit outside..."  Yes, the drain hole in the floor did not meet the drain on the tub.  Roooops.

Happy Mother's Day

Not only did I work, this is what I came home to in our bathroom.  Apparently our tub's drain broke, which was the only thing keeping the tub from sinking into the rotted floor.  According to Greg it went in about 2".  So, we are doing a remodel that we were planning, just not right now.   As of today, the plumbing is roughed in and we re getting ready to drop the floor in.  Hopefully tonight I will have least a tub and toilet.  We are rearranging a little, as long as we have to replace the floor and run new plumbing. We are swapping the sink and the toilet, so the sink is under the medicine cabinet and the toilet is under the window, instead of the other way around.  I will post more pictures later.  Well, back to it.

Just an update

Happy Spring, everyone!  I can finally say that, as spring has been here for a couple of weeks.  The daffodils tulips and lilacs have gone past, peonies and iris are starting and the daisies are a ways off.  We have had some rain, not nearly what we did last year, but enough over the last couple of days that my front yard squishes when you walk

This is Mariska's spring picture, taken at her preschool by a local photog.  She does great work and I need to get all three kids into her and have pictures done.  The company that does the school portraits around here don't do a very good job, especially the fall pictures. 

Greg has been working in Norman for the past month/month and a half.  I don't think he has been at home for a full week in 3 or 4 months and its getting really old!  It would be nice to have him around more than 3 or 4 nights a week.  I have no clue how much longer this is going to go on.

Work is ok.  Its some extra $, but that is about it. 

Bekah is about done with Girl Scouts for the year and Patrick just started Boy Scouts.  The Boy Scouts really seem to be more....intense?  Is that the word I am looking for?  Meetings every Monday, big meetings once a month, all year long.  But he is enjoying it.  They went to the fire house last Monday.  There are pictures posted in my "Kids" album, if you want to check them out.

Both kids are done with school in a week and a half. EEEEKKKKK!!!  What am I going to do with all of them home all of the time.  I am thinking lots of trips to the park, especially before it gets too hot.  And all three are getting swimming lessons this summer!

The kittens are growing like weeds.  I will try to get pictures of them individually here shortly.  First it was missing cf cards, then dead batteries then mising recharger.  But I all of that has been solved and hopefully the will at some point sit still long enough for me to get their pictures.  There is one in the "Kittens" folder that I posted yesterday.

I haven't done much stithing.  I did pick three really nice sized pieces of linen and evenweave from one of the local thrift stores.  These, two barely started kits, and a piece of seafoam 18ct aida set me back $2.50 and a few hours frogging what was started on the pieces.

Anywho, here is m progress on Great Lakes Lowland.  Not much done.  Hopefully I am getting back in the stitching mood.  Not sure why I have been in a slump. 

 

And here is Atlantic Seaboard.  I dripped a bit of Diet Dr Pepper on it, but luckily it is near the heron and away from an overdyed.  I think I can get it out.

Well, that catches me up.  I need to go off and catch up on my reading and then I will stitch a bit after lunch.  Later all!!!