Stitchy Update….

First of all, thank you for the kind words and electronic hugs- they are much appreciated and comforting. I am doing a little better each day, but then I am also trying to keep my activity level at 155 MPH to be distracted as much as possible. At night when I inevitably have to slow down, I watch a little TV, then go to bed early. Needless to say, I have a LOT of DVR hours to go thru.

Anyway- here as promised, are some stitchy pictures:

Beacon House- here’s where I left off last time:

I rolled the scrolls over and here’s where I am now:

And a zoom of Mr..Snowman:

Here’s Joy Sampler by Lizzie Kate:

I could finish this up this weekend if I sat down to it.

Here’s Jackson from the barn:

His 2 big sisters were put to sleep a couple of weeks ago, so this was his first time being all alone while I barn sat. He’s been vaguely “not right” since before that, and the vet(s) can’t figure out what’s wrong. He’s eating, pooping and peeing normally; he’s just not the bouncy wing-nut he’s always been. He got along good with Chicken, just a few growls, but no fights, so I was able to have her sleep over with us instead of leaving her alone at my house.

Off to do house work- my favorite! 

 

NOT!

Begin again…

Well, I’ll jump right into it:

I had kind of lost my blogging mojo by the end of June, and then at the beginning July my boyfriend of 14 years passed away unexpectedly. Well, as unexpectedly as anyone with COPD for 3-4+ years can. And that kind of took the wind right out of my sails. A week after his memorial was my birthday, then a week after that was his birthday.  So it’s been a tough month.  I’m already starting to have more good days (those without crying my eyes out) than not-so-good ones, so I’m doing OK.

I don’t mean to relay all this for  sympathy, but as an an FYI for you. Whenever one of  the blogs I read just disappears without explanation, it bothers me. I assume it bothers you too. I wonder if they’re coming back, what’s happened in their life (if anything) and I keep checking back less and less frequently, until I relegate them to the “Low Activity” bookmark folder. I check that occasionally, and sometimes the blogger starts posting again.  So I can’t and won’t promise that I’ll post any more regularly for any time soon. I just don’t have the proper mind set right now. God knows a crabby depressed Xeyedmary isn’t a whole heck of a lot of fun to read.  Even on a good day.

My kitchen table is piled with various things that I have no ambition to deal with at the moment, and since it’s the best spot to take photos of my stitching, I haven’t been able to do that either. I have stitched a bit, filled in more snow and water on Beacon House, and worked a bit more on that Xmas sampler I can’t remember the name of- “Joy Sampler” by Lizzie Kate maybe?

I may clean the table off and be more diligent in taking progress photos, and just post those with little commentary. I think I can handle that.

Any whose: I just uploaded some photos I took  last month:

Here’s what I grilled for myself for my birthday dinner:

 

An angus burger with caramelized onions and American cheese on a bed of baby spinach with mayo & ketchup. Bob had promised me we’d go to our favorite diner in Mattapoisett for their SCL  burger for my birthday- which is pretty much what I recreated, but without the fries.

Emily gave me a couple of cupcakes- refugees from an event she baked for. And that’s an icy cold glass of Bud, for a toast to my honey.

Here’s my wittle bitty baby:

She’s been glued to my side- so sweet.

TTFN

And then…

Here’s this week’s progress on Beacon House:

More alphabet and lower border and snow ground cover…

As I was pulling into my driveway, Mommy turkey and her brood of 6-9 chick lets were crossing my street up into my yard. I ran & got the camera  but while Mommy and half the babies hid in the shrubs, these ones thought if they froze, I wouldn’t see them:

Chickie says: “I’m the ONLY Chicklet round here if you please!”

Falling Domino fun…

I hope this (still) works:

Shaved Chicken…

Poor puppy is getting up there- I’ve had her for going on 9 years, and she was an adult dog then, so my guess is she’s anywhere from 12-14 years old. She doesn’t tolerate the hot so much anymore and it doesn’t help that her coat is like a collie’s fur. Last fall I had her trimmed to clean clean her up some, and I like the results so much I vowed to have her done for summer. And vee-ola- here she is: (don’t laugh too hard)

Here’s what she used to look like:

I keep doing a double-take and laugh when i look at her- poor baby! She feels like a seal. And her little legs crack me up now that I can actually see them.

I’ve been busy doing stuff I’ve neglected around my house- scraping and re-painting exterior trim on my house, lots of cleaning. I have to mow the lawn at least once a week to keep up with it. I still am having trouble taking out my stitching except for Thursday stitch nights. Can’t figure out what that’s all about because i love Beacon House, even with it’s wall-to-wall stitching, and there’s very little on TV to watch these days.

Off to mow- rain coming tomorrow and Tuesday!

TTFN

Halfway….

Geesh! I’ve been very bad at posting and stitching. Don’t know where my mojo’s gone %^(   but we’re halfway thru June already!

Here’s 2 weeks’ worth of stitching on Beacon House. I yanked up my big girl panties and did the snowflakes on the left side of the chart. I can now scroll over to the right side. I think I’m about halfway done:

You may have seen on the national (and international)  news about  the town next-door to mine that has imposed a $20 fine for swearing? Yeah- except for the people who voted for it at Town meeting, we all think it’s pretty stupid too. It’s not like they don’t have other, more important problems to deal with…

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope your day is blessed with sunshine as we remember those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

This is the first Memorial Day weekend in 3 or 4 years  that I’ve had “off” off, because of my barn owner’s show horse having colic surgery. KoKo is recuperating well, with no problems (quick knock on wood). Next weekend she can be turned out into a small pen; she’s been out of her stall only for brief periods to  hand graze 3 or 4 times a day for the past month. She’ll have a month of “pen” rest, then another month of pasture rest, which will bring her to the beginning of August before she can go back to work.

Here’s my progress on Beacon House. This is 2 weeks worth of stitching and it really doesn’t look like much, but I’ve dipped into the water:

I’ve been procrastinating on doing all the snowflakes scattered in the sky areas. There are 3 different size Smyrna Crosses to do and I’m dreading them!

I made a Peanut Butter sheet cake for snack at stitching last week:

I thought it was excellent. Jeanne had the idea of Pioneer Woman’s Chocolate Sheet Cake with the Peanut Butter sheet cakes’s frosting.  A must-try for sure!

Have a nice quiet holiday tomorrow!