Day After Birthday..

I had an unexpected surprise or two:
At S&B Jean presented me with a gift: Knotted Tree "Spring Floral Sampler" to go along with my Fall Floral Sampler! I was so surprised! Thanks Jean! Plus, she baked a loaf of Strawberry bread which was very delicious!
I woke up yesterday morning to find an envelope marked "Mom", and inside, a cute kitty card & a gift certificate to Cranberry Cross Stitch (Deb's store, aka: the weekly venue for S&B).
I was floored by that! Em & I have been having "issues", shall we say, but she has been making a monumental effort to comport herself in a pleasant manner, and I greatly appreciate it. The pains she has been taking are truly a gift of their own, but a card & a certificate on top of that are more than I expected.
Greg took me out for lunch and let me go home after, so I was even able to take a nap.
We had grilled chicken Caesar salads. After my nap, I went grocery shopping, and Em had just taken a cake out of the oven: strawberry with funfetti frosting. yummy!
I made a bit of progress on Bittersweet Moon, but not enough to warrant a picture just yet.
I've been reading 'The Horse that God Built", and picked up "Mystic River" at the beginning of the week, and just received "Without Reservation" (about the Conn. casinos) and now 2-3 chapters in. I REALLY want to re-read Harry Potter start to finish, in preparation for the finale. (As I'm sure every one else has done!)
OH what's a girl to do???!!!

A well deserved day off:

I had a snow day today, although we got barely a half inch of snow. I almost guilted myself into going to work, except work is 30 miles north into the cold & snowier conditions, so I snuggled under the covers until 7:30. I haven't done that since Xmas week!
I gave CHicken a bath and blow dry,made the beds, mounted my TW Fruit bellpull on my floorstand so i can finally put the backstitching & beads in the border. This piece has been under plastic wrap on top of my TV for probably 5 years, if not longer.
Then I started getting water drips inside my bay window from the ceiling, so I had to go out & dig all the packed snow dregs from the gutter & pour hot water in to get all the rain flowing. In the 9 years here, thta's never happened before. My paltry handiman efforts appear to have been successful- the drips stopped.
I had to go to the barn because the blacksmith was coming to put new shoesies on the horsie.
When I got back Emily had written an email about her poor bedraggled wet mis-adventures getting to classes today. She was so depressed she was thinkning of skipping chocolate nite at the dinner hall, so i offered to get her candy at the drugstore. Boy- everyone had the same idea- I couldn't even find a parking space.
I'm very worried about Bob- he somehow got a serious infection in his middle finger of his bad hand- the finger is swollen at least double what it should be. The ER dr. prescribed him an antibiotic, which, had he gotten it filled & started taking it, would have put him into convulsions or killed him. He got a different Rx the next day, and the infection hasn't gotten worse, but it hasn't gotten much better either. He has an app't tomorrow or Friday with a specialist. He's hoping to get a referral to a real dr in Boston- the one who did the surgery a long time ago.
Carol http://carolsxsblog.blogspot.com/, had some nice fabrics for sale to help with her kitties vet bills. (I know there's a way to substitute Carol's name for the hyperlink, but no one's informed me yet how to do that). She had a nice pink- that looks like it'll match Emily's comforter set at school, that I can use for the Eiffel tower chart. It was only $8. Then, she had a piece of 32 ct. Silkweavers in "Stormy-something" for $15, so I got that as well.
I can't wait to receive them.
I love Carol's blog- I think it's my favorite. She updates everyday, with photos of her rotation. Her Paradigm Lost is just stunning. I'm going to have to start that soon.
Carol in fact is the person who suggsted I start blogging.
Maybe if i didn't feel so compelled to make each entry a mini-novella, i wouldn't angst so much about making an entry.
OH!- I finished Christmas Sampler at lunch yesterday- except for the charm. I will post a pix later. Meantime- here's the Fall Floral Sampler I finished a couple of weeks ago- it needs ironing:

Well, seeing as I haven't stitched a single 'X" today, I will try before Lost comes on tonight. I guess i'll work on my Wish ornament.

TTFN

Two Days in a Row!

I can't stand having found a great blog with lots of pix, adding it to my favorites, then they stop posting new entries. I had to make a whole sub-folder for "Low Activity" blogs. I read somewhere about the RSS feed button-thing-y, but I haven't figured it out yet.
So I will try to post often enough to not be shuffled off to the back corner of your computer's closet.
Of course, I also haven't figured out how to add photos & such to MY blog to make it more interesting, just the inescapable typos to add a little puzzle to your day:, " What the hell was she trying to write???"
SHow day at the farm tomorrow, plus it was wash the buckets weekend and make grain day. I was still doen in just over 5 hours; it helps that it was showering and the critters stayed in all day- god- those friggin' outfits!!!!
Tomorrow I have to be there by 5:00 am.
I wish I had more energy to stitch later into the evening.
I had my first finish this past week, and by gosh I finally cleaned up after myself for once and put the darnedpacket away, so I can;t remeber the naem- Fall something sampler - it has a big black crow in the middle and some stylized flowers around, a horizontal piece.
I'm working on "christmas Sampler" by Heart in Hand, about 1/3 done, and I have "Kittys" all kitted up and fabric cneterd on scroll rods, waiting for my fat laxy ass to sit on th ecouch, but SOME MORON decided a blog would be fun; I am SO screwed when the TV show schedule resumes. I don't have time to shave my legs never mind sew & blog too!