Out With the Old...

Happy New Years! I hope to (finally) stitch tonight. I've been picking Bob up & we've been driving around looking for either a truck like his for the transmission, or a cheap beater to drive around until he finds a transmission. Ya know, I was going to shorten that word, but as I wrote it, it occurred to me that googlers on a mission might inadvertantly come across my blog. And with the "X"'s I already have in my title, well.. it might just turn out not so good.
Anyway, happiness to all and good stitching for the coming year.

Bah Humbug!

I had to take my tree down today because Delilah had decided it was a good place to "nest". Rather than having a bunch of branches ruined by irreversible bending, and having a bunch of ornaments broken, I chose to take it down.

It really frosts my ass! This is the first time in about 20 years I've had to put the tree away before New Year's. I LOVE having the Xmas tree up! I love the ornaments and the twinkle of the lights; I love just walking by & moving an ornament to just the right spot, I love buying something new & special for the tree every year; I count the days until I can put it up (even if I can't find the time when that day comes). I especially love all the happy memories it evokes, from my childhood on up to Emily's. I always get a little sad when I finally have to take it down. It's as if I'm putting all those sweet memories away again for another year.
Damn that Delilah!
I left my Hallmark Santa & reindeers up on my hutch, and my snow house up. The lights are still up & on outside.

I started on of those JBW Design ornaments at work yesterday. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow.
And all you Patriots fans- let's get our team jerseys on & do that voodoo on those Giants!

Ummmm...

Just so you know- I'm a very good speller; I'm just a very bad typist combined with dyslex-o-type (transpose digits). It gets SO tedious trying to proof read everything. Sorry!

Stash Alert!

Just Deb, Linda, Jean & me tonight at S & B. Deb's having an after-Christmas sale, so I bought 2 charts & a piece of fabric:

Cirque des Circles (like everyone else!) and Sleigh Ride Snapperland. I had bought the JBW Designs a couple of weeks ago but can't remeber if I showed it.

This is a piece of 32 ct. Belfast Linen in Amsterdam Blue. Some of the snowflake ornaments I've seen look very nice on blue.



Here's progress on Fruit of the Loom:

I have the first house done and a littel more to do on the left side tree.
And here's my itty Chickles:

Fa-LA-LA-LA

And here is the wreck that is my kitchen:

I did have a nice day though; I decided I like Thanksgiving better- I have 3 more days to recover from cooking insanity, as opposed to having to go back tomorrow.

My mini cheesecake was yummy!

I hope everyone's day was wonderful, and all your dreams came true.

Just a Little Further...

I got the other 4 mini-cheesecakes done- one sprung a leak in the water bath; I'll save that for me. I just baked my dinner rolls, and a batch of what I'd hope be like the buns my mom made for Xmas; alas, not quite, but still a bread product and therefore good!


I put the turkey in to brine this morning, and got Avery's pillow made this afternoon; I was wrapping just as Dianne knocked on the door to deliver her presents- good timing or what??!!

I had a thread skip first seam in the middle above the x-stitch, leaving a 3/4" gap, which I found as I was stuffing. I had to pull out all the fluff, turn outside in again & resew. What a bother. It's pink organza ribbon; it looks on the orange-ish side here.
Patriots are 15-0- what a present that is, huh? Bob is borrowing my car so he can go back & forth to the shelter in New Bedford at will. * Edited* to say that Bob helps cook Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at a woman's shelter in N.B. every year. The cooking spans several nights preceding the actual holiday(s). Without his truck it was a huge problem getting there.
I'm waiting to hear from Emily to see if she's coming home from the boyfriend's house or not. It's been our tradition to get Chinese food Christmas eve, but if she's not coming, I'd prefer pizza and they close at 6:00 so I kinda have to know....SOON!

I'm liking not having a car- it's forcing me to get done what needs doing, instead of running around avoiding the tasks I've set out for myself, and then complaining "I don't have time!", and being up until 2:30 am wrapping. As it is, I'm blogging instead of dish washing to clean up the kitchen before the wrap party starts.
Hey just got a call she's coming home later so i can get a pizza- if they're still open.
A Merry and Joyous Christmas to you all!

Are we There Yet?

1 regulation-size cheesecake, 4 mini cheesecakes, and 1 vat of beef stew later, and I still have a loaf of lasagna and 4 more mini cheesecakes to make tomorrow, plus that damn baby quilt & pillow. Then deliver the goods, plus a trip to the mall. THEN I can start on my own feast!

I did get the long overdue vaccuming done today while the 1st cheesecake baked. I don't know why I do this to myself every year.

Sigh

Holy Stash-ola!

I came home with a haul & a half from S&B tonight! But first, a progress photo of Hawaiian Sunset Biscornu:

One more corner on the back, then putting together. I'm crazy but I'm going to try the beaded edge.

Here's Chicken looking for some of my bologna sandwich:

Here's my other cross stitch Santa ornament:

You can see the pom poms on the hat & the shape better.

I had to drive into Boston to pick up Emily in the "it's supposed to be rain" snow storm. It took an hour to drive in from Canton, which usually takes 15 minutes. The roads were marginally better on the way back, only because all the other drivers were resigned to the fact that it was indeed snowing, NOT raining.

Tonight I came home with:

From Jane: mini-fruitcakes & get this: fig newtons, halfed, dipped in chocolate & rolled in nuts. They looked like designer chocolates in their little papers and SO yummy!

From Linda: Ginger cookies with a felt cardinal ornament

From Deb: a set of scissors & a magnet from the store. I think she had orange cookies, but somehow I didn't get any ?

From Jean: Frosted ? cookies & a box of chocolate-dipped altoids.

From Joann: Eggnog bars

From Nancy: walnut chocolate clusters & a box of fancy local chocolates

From Carole: Looks like almond puffcookies

Here are the stitch boxes (perfect for the new scissors!) I made:

The magnet was sticky back, but it came from my ex-MIL's stash and was about 30 years old, so it kept popping off the cover and trying to curl back up. It sticks good for about 15 minutes, then lifts. I had to glue it down after the fact. Eh.

You can see the curling magnet on the white box. I lined one compartment with fabric, different colors for each box.

Now I'm off to the couch; I have such an anti-caffeine headache. Shoot! I have to wash dishes. Do you think any one would be able to tell if I just had Chickie do them?

Ummm.... nah.. I don't think that's such a good idea.

And that freekin Delilah is finally attacking the tree. Awesome.

More Photos:

6 types of cookies & 4 pans of baklava:


Outside of my house:

Sorry it's blurry. That big bush to the right of the door is holly, as is the one on the far right. The one on the right I trim regularly- it would be the same as the other if I didn't.

Individual Ornaments:

Breyers Race Horses: Secretariat in front of Seabiscuit. Sometimes we call Ms.Axeu "AxeBiscuit".

Emily made this one long ago- it's a favorite of mine.

I made two of these (identical) years ago from an old "Cross Stitch & Country Crafts" magazine. The pattern called for a Christmas plaid aida place mat, and you stitched the Santa motif at the corner of the plaid. The red hat is the fabric, as is the green with gold check. I bought opposite color-way fabric- green ground with red plaid - with the intention of making more, but it languishes in my stash. I should take a better picture- it's finished in a cone shape with pompoms & tiny bells on the tip of the hat.

OY!

Well I was up until 11:30 making my 4 pans of baklava, with one more pan tonight. I gussied up those IKEA pencil boxes a tad for gifts for the S & B girls. I'll take a picture when I get home of a couple so you may see.
I got to work today and there wasn't any heat- it was 49 degrees! Luckily we have a couple of little space heaters, and with one pointing at my knees under my desk, and with my coat and gloves on all day, I was able to do some work until the repair guy showed up at noon. Also luckily, I didn't have to go out as the boss's daughter blocked my car in until after lunch.
And to round things out completely, I AM having severe hormonal distress. I just about burst into tears just having to talk to Bob last night at 8:15 after coming home from the barn and not having had supper, and starting a fire and walking the dog and facing an ass-load of baking to finish. I really need to investigate the speaker phone on my cell- that way I can putter while talking- my phone just isn't the right shape to tuck under my chin to have both hands free.
I had forgotten my bologna sandwich in the morning, so I ate that on my feet while I baked.
Chicken is NOT liking the bathroom conditions outside- iced over snow-covered grass. It's been a real effort finding a place for her to go. Sigh.

Oh Cwistmas twee..

Before:

During:

After:

Mantel:

Ceramic Snow House:

Exhausted doggie:

I'll post more ornament photos later.

TTFN

You talkin' to me??

Here I am! Over here...yes- here!!!
Just a quick one to let you know I'm alive; Thursday's storm wiped me out, and then again on Saturday night into Sunday. I HATE snow! It wouldn't be so bad except my freekin elbows of all things are killing me, since I stopped working at the barn. Well it started just before I left, and has gotten worse. I'm back to 2 Alleeves, am and pm, just to keep the burning at bay.
Plus, my monthly week (to 10 day) of exhaustion commenced, and I get so far with everything that NEEDS to be done, and I have to wipe out on the couch. I did manage to get my 6 batches of cookies baked as of last night. Tonight is 4 pans of baklava, make up grain & walk Axe at the barn (too icy to turn out as she hasn't got her snow shoes on yet) before she turns stir-crazy - she was quite... hmmm... "peppy" might be a good adjective, last night for my ride. I got my brother's package mailed off Saturday, and my Mom's goes out today, and I put up my ceramic snow house last night during the last batch or two of cookies. Gosh I owe you lots of pictures.
I have to get my turkey tonight and beef stew supplies (gift to Dianne & Jen). I got some IKEA pencil boxes to convert to stitching kits for the S & B ladies, and that has to happen before Thursday (which is what the Baklava is for). I still have to complete my shopping, and wrapping, and bake cheesecakes. And finish the baby quilt & pillow; and I have to pick Emily up in Boston Thursday afternoon, and oh my god I just want a nap!
I WILL try to get some photos up soon... I promise.
TTFN

THAT"S Gonna Hurt!

Well, the tree is up & photoed, but you'll have to wait; after 2 bouts of shoveling my driveway, and since Bob has borrowed Em's car, I have THAT spot to shovel instead of it being covered by car, I'm about to fall on my face. I'll probably have to go out yet again- my street needs to be plowed again, and I get major blocked in every time, being the 1st house on the right off Main Street. I got home safely just as it was starting here- at work it hadn't begun, so it would have appeared that i had jumped the gun, but it was snowing pretty good just as i got off the highway here. i won't be able to move tomorrow.
Emily saw the Back Street Boys in a mini-lounge concert a local radio was hosting. She got to hug AJ & got a picture. Another post- my arms are falling offf...............

Okay...

I really need to get to bed, and put up my tree, and ceramic snow house with all its little critters, and wrap gifts & mail some to VA and to FLA, and make cookie doughs, and pay bills and balance my checkbook (AGAIN!!) and vaccuum the floor and give Chicken a bath and finish the baby quilt and stitch- oh to do some cross stitch instead of just reading about it on everyone else's blogs (thanks you guys- some days it's all the "stitching" I get to!) and stack some fire wood -only a whole cord of it, and the leaves in my yard are just horrendous, and when's the last time I washed that car?? And tidy up the desk area so I can actually find something, and deck out some IKEA pencil boxes to make stitching boxes for the ladies at S & B, and the horse needs riding at least 3 days a week, preferably 5 but that shoots the whole evening out the window and Holy Crap Batman! when the heck can I sleep!

And on an entirely different channel: Denis called today from Ireland- he said that the weather has been terrible- 40 foot waves in St.Finan's bay- "Twas spectacular to see" he said, "the rain is slanting sideways as we speak."

Nothing like this though. This was perfect!
TTFN

HA HA!

Emily sent me this you tube video- let's see if I can insert the link; especially under the pressure of my boss being across th eroom- oops typosss!!!! That didn't woork- lets' try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNVdn4DNOrU

It's Craig Ferguson talking about horses, FYI

Good night...

Any night I don't fall off the horse is a good night. I had that hormonally-induced irrational feeling of dread before heading up to the barn tonight but it ended up being fine. Axe was a sweetie-pie, as always. Gawd- I can't believe it's almost nine o'clock!
I have a ton o' stuff to do.
TTFN

Sometimes you just want to scream..

Crappy ride home from work Friday- snowy, slushy stuff. It was supposed to rain. So I didn't ride or grocery shop. I made popovers though, and a batch of beef stew for Bob at the barn.

Saturday I had it all planned: work for Tom until late morning, then up in Canton on a side job, tehn pick Emily up at the Braintree T station, take her to get her glasses, then the mall, then riding, then back to Braintree to the T. Unfortunately, I got a call from Bob at the barn that he neeeded help- the new weekend woman didn't show, and Haley wasn't answering her phone. So I sped down there because it never hurts to have major brownie points and to be owed a huge favor from the person in charge of taking care of your horse. Then back to BRaintree, no time to ride, but got the glasses & the Mall, then back to Braintree, then back home to grocery shop. I crashed on the couch with a bologna sandwich & a glass of wine & a cookie at 8:30 at night, 249 miles elapsed on my odometer since Thursday after X-stitch.

Today I had to pick my Bob up becuase his transmission isn't working; we went to taunton to see where his insurance hearing will be- good thing- because it wasn't where I though it was. The bring Bob home, but I stopped at the new Target in Wareham & got 75% of my kids' presents shopping done. That's a huge relief.

I was able to put up my icicle lights today. I need to get the tree up, though, but I'm afraid Delilah will trash it. I also have to write about Thursday night's festivities at Linda's house- we had a great time & great food! But that'll be for another night.

TTFN

We know what Thursdays mean..

Stitch & Bitch tonight!

We are all going to Linda's house tonight. She puts up about 7 Xmas trees; we're having an Hors D'Oerve (is that how that's spelled?) party. We probably won't get to any actual stitching & I must confess, it's been a horrible week for me stitching-wise. We have a Friday deadline on two different lab projects here at work; and I can only wrap my teeeeny brain around one at a time. And to top it off, our super-duper computer array (YES! An ARRAY of computers- 3 hard drives in a RAIDD system with a "hot swap"- whatever that is) shit the bed this morning. A squealing whine arose yesterday morning after my boss left for the day- of such tone or pitch that I was either going to have a seizure or stab the next person who entered the office to DEATH with a red felt-tip Flair. I opted to close the door and turn the radio up louder.

When my boss came in this morning, I told him about the whine (which i assumed indicated nothing good- only dying hard drives make that kind of noise) adn he asked me to log off the network, and it wouldn't re-boot- NONE of the redundant drives and the "hot swap" (whatever that is) would re-boot. Long story short, it was a battery on the CMOS taht died, and the whine was actually an alarm, computer geek came & fixed it by 10:30, and here I am blogging instead of drawing.
Anyway, I rode the Axe last night; at one turn she decided to check that I was paying attention and pretended to startle and almost ducked out from under me, but I hung on. SHe's got such a sweet canter- I wish my legs were stronger- i could just canter her forever!

I finished Harry Potter& the Order of the Phoenix, and started the Half-Blood Prince. It's amazing at how much of these stories I don't remember. Anyway, I just kept talking myself out of stitching all week. The woman interested in leasing Axe still is, and will start paying by the ride, hopefully tomorrow. She thinks she can ride one day a week thru Christmas, and more after the holidays. Which is good.

Blast from the Past

Here's a picture of part of my Teresa Wentzler "Fruit Bellpull". I finished all the stitching except the backstitched stems and individual pink berries in the border about 5 or 6 years ago, and it's been languishing under plastic ever since. I had it stored flat at first, and after I finished St. Georges, put it on my large floor stand frame.

Here's a close-up of the peaches:

Gawd- those confetti stitches were a bitch! Next time I'll use overdyes.

TTFN

All Righty Then..

Blogger seems wicked slow tonight. Did ya miss me?? Huh?? No posts for a day!
Messy storm coming in tonight; the snow started about 5:00 pm. I did a Walmart run before lunch and a Lowe's run before dinner. I'm looking for LED icicle lights. No such luck, and I went to both local hardware stores before the big boys. One of those owners said "Gee! Do they make Xmas lights LED now?" And this is the guy I usually ask my stupid fix-it questions to.
Bob & I went to brunch with Dianne & Jen and Alice & Dave. It was delicious, and good to catch up. I also asked Alice to keep me on her stall list, Emily's potential leaser having disappeared off the face of the earth.
Well, Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Aksaban is on. I should watch.
TTFN
PS Another shit head boarder came back to the farm today. This particular condescending bitch has some difficulty in believing that someone who isn't afraid of hard work (ie: stall shoveling & associated barn work) could possibly go to a good college with the intentions of going pre-med. Apparently, we stall shovelers are stoopit.

I did It!!

I finished NaBloPoMo! I didn't join officially, but I managed to post every day but 2, and I posted more than once one or two days, so I still ended up with over 30 posts for the month.
I rode tonight- no one was there. Axe was good, she's got such a nice, rhythmic, lopey canter; very easy to sit to. The jumps were set up low- just the height of the fence, about 15" - 18". I was almost tempted to trot over one, but then thought "Well, if I did fall off, there's no one here to help me if I hurt myself." Then my bad self would say " Yeah - but there's no one here to watch you!" My lack of insurance slapped my bad self back into line.
TTFN

Progress pix..

Stitch & Bitch tonight; some progress on Fruit of the Loom, and I backstitched the face of the Hawaiian biscornu and started the back. I also bought a star button for the middle.

I should have ridden Axe tonight, but talked myself out of it- I had my rubbish to collect, and then there was a whole bunch of people riding in the indoor tonight. I'll go up tomorrow night to ride- fridays are usually quiet.

I bought this cute chart: one of the ladies at S & B had bought this a couple of weeks ago, and had one design finished by the end of the night (about 90 minutes):

I've got work from Tom Saturday- YAY! I desperately need the $$. Which makes a whole lot of sense to be buying stash. Riiiight.

TTFN

MMMM......Pizzaaaaaa....

Town Spa linguica pizza- none better in the whole wide world! They also have awesome Greek salads. Unfortunately, Chicken smells the pizza on my hands, and is wandering around thinking she's going to get a piece. Little does she know but the 3 remaining pieces are destined for my lunch bag tomorrow.

I have to wash dishes and I really need to get to bed before midnight. I think the 5th Harry Potter book was the most tedious, but that Froggy Umbridge woman creeps me out- she reminds me of my boss's old business partner; anyway, I can't put this book down- i think because I want to finish it, just so I can get to the next.

TTFN

Close but no Cigar..

I finished the top face of my Hawaiian Sunset Biscornu:
Now for the bottom face (something simple) and assembly. I hope this goes together OK- the border square is going to be 90 degrees off the design. Maybe I'll have to dig up some beads.
TTFN

Stitching Stuff

I stitched about an hour on Fruit of the Spirit, not that you can really tell:

Chickie was my stitching buddy:

Now I'm back to riding the horse, beginning tonight. Dread,dread, dread. And Bob at the barn is pissed off at Emily, to make the whole experience even more dreadful. I really wish we were able to move Axe to Alice & Dave's when we had to get out of Dodge. I'll have to send them a Xmas card with a note to please keep us on their list.

Tomorrow morning I have to drop the car off for an oil change & 25K service. I won't bring FOS with me only becuase I have to walk a half mile down the road to the office. Hopefully it won't be raining hard. Blech.

I'm Posting because it's NaBloPoMo

Not becuase I have anything interesting to write about or post tonight. I was craving something sweet and breakfast-bread-like this morning, so I took my dinner roll recipe for my machine, and added craisins & walnuts and let it bake as a loaf. It came out quite yummy. Then in the spirit of "What's the most opposite meal from turkey dinner I can make today?" and made American Chop Suey for lunch for me & Bob today. I believe it's kind of regional to the Northeast, but it's basically macaroni, with a tomato/meat sauce stirred in. Bob likes his with butter stirred in, and topped with parmesan cheese. Not to gross anyone out here, but my Mom's version growing up was elbows, canned tomato soup-not reconstituted, and ground beef. If she could sneak some onions in there she would; personally I liked the onions in it, and would augment with onion salt. Today, I used a can of italian flavored stewed tomatoes, plus a can of tomato sauce, with ground beef sauted with some chopped onions. MMm..tasty! And NOT turkey!

Turkey Hangovers..

I got up at 7 am and was at the barn by 8:30 to make grain. I went out to find a b-day present for my friend Liz, even though her birthday was mid-October. Her husband threw a 45-th party back at the beginning of October, the week before my barn melt-down actually, i think. Per her request, I had donated to the Home for Little Wanderers in lieu of a gift, but we always exchange gifts, so I had to get something else. We go to Town Spa pizza in Stoughton for a linguica & a greek salad, always! Our date is Wednesday night. Then I'll have to think about Christmas/Hanukha gifts. I also went to Michael's next door to the TJMaxx (are they always built next to each other or what?) and got some ribbons & wreath trims.

After Bob left, I went out to Joann's and got the rest of the fabric for the quilt. Some of it will also be for the pillow. I found these tiny 6 foot spools of trim in the scrapbook dept.- perfect for pin keeps! And the color selection was way better than the regular trim selection. The other trims are also for pin keeps.

I had gotten this for Chickie for Xmas dress-up: she didn't want to cooperate:

It's a light-up Christmas tree headband and a plaid bow tie. The tree also plays jingle bells.

HO-Ho-Ho! just a little political incorrect-ness for you. Nothing like some post-holiday anarchy.

A Well Deserved Day Off

I took Chicken to the vet for annual check up & shots; I brought Aslan along too because he's had a tiny sore enlarge to a small sore on his head, and then he ended up getting shots too.

Don't know what's going on with her mouth in that shot; but what can you do?

I finally got the baby quilt started for Avery. I have to go to Joann's for edge-sashing & backing fabric. My alignment skills leave a lot to be desired. But I don't think a baby will mind, do you?

It should be about 36" x 46" when finished. Then I have her little pillow to complete from the Thoughts of Baby sampler I stitched.

Which left me with T-day dinner Part 2 for supper tonight. Lots of yum there.