Life With Jules, and other stuff

Yea, I read a couple  of blogs this evening and thought I would share my little toe too! Parsley and Emily are just too funny in having this competition! I can’t say that my little toe is ugly, but the nail is disgusting, to me anyway (because of the skin over growth near the cuticle). So, here is my little toe: Thanks ladies! I needed that laugh!!! This has been a crappy week so far. It started with my taking dad to the hospital at 3am Monday morning. After about 30 minutes, the doctor decided he had pneumonia and admitted him. Later, when the floor doctor saw him, she told him it’s not pneumonia, but wanted to look at his gall bladder, appendix, and kidneys. Nope, not there either, so this morning they decided to do a colonoscopy. Well, there was a mass found in an area that couldn’t be removed during that procedure so he will be having surgery in the next day or so to remove it for biopsy. Praying it’s not the big “C”, but prepared mentally either way. To top it off we h...

Every now and again, I receive emails that just hit the mark. Never have I shared one on my blog[s] until now: **************************************** THIS SENIOR CITIZEN NAILED IT !!!!! Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming, Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security" to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. August, 2010. Here's a response in a letter from an unknown fellow in Montana... I think he is a little ticked off!  He also tells it like it is! ------------------------------------ "Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight. 1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS. 2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old, I am now 63). 3. My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you politica...

Well, I decided to work on Coming Home for the Holidays this week and will continue working on it until the end of the month. I found a groove and don’t want to put it down yet. Here is a picture of where I last left things:     And this is what it looked like yesterday before I picked it up for the evening: And this is what it looks like now: What’s really cool about this piece is you can really see the dimension in it. I noticed this last night while speaking with my mom on the phone. The small room on this side of the house just popped out at me. It’s not something I have really noticed before, but WOW!     I will update you all on this again at the end of the month! I do have a question to pose to all of you stitchers: What is the best way to stretch a piece before framing? If you look at some of the pictures, you can see where it is warped because silly me didn’t know to take it off the hoop/q-snaps when not working on it . I know it wi...

I couldn’t resist being vague in the Title of this post and starting off with that infamous laugh! LOL For today, I am sharing the woodpeckers that live in a tree behind the flower shop: Birds ~ Tuesday’s Show & Tail VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I have been pulling a little bit of babysitting duty for one of my grand-nieces. She is a handful at times, but so fun and comical. Here are some pics I took of her last night: Babysitting Duty VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Well, I could have said “Another Crazy Finish” for the title but I opted to do something different. “ACF” seems a bit redundant at this point, LOL! Anyway, I finished stitching Colonial Williamsburg Gardens Sampler last night and I am quite happy with it. Here are a couple of pics:   This is where I left off on Friday night when I finally stopped. I was sooo close, but getting tired and had to be to work early in the morning. With that said, as I was putting things away and taking my nighttime medication (cholesterol) I dropped my cup of tea. What I thought was going to be a before midnight bedtime turned into an after midnight bedtime. I spent about a half hour cleaning the spill on the floor (iced tea in a tumbler cup), changing out of the wet clothing I had on (most of the tea hit me or the floor), and then going through ALL of my WIPs and cleaning them or laying them to dry. Fortunately, those that were hit in the fabric were hit in areas that are not going to be vis...

Here are some pictures I took of the moon this evening (8pm-8:30pm): Closest Moon in 18 Years VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I say partial because this particular piece is 1 of 2. The first Vibrant Vase is completely stitched: I am going to pick up the Light Effects floss for the 2nd Vase so there is a nice contrast between the two. I also received word that the giveaway winner has received her package and she is extremely pleased with it, especially the Godiva I included. Here is a pic of her winnings (courtesy of KimberlyR ~ no blog): Included (from top left): Pins, Gold Beading strand, Christmas Card stitching kit, Postcard of the town I live in, Godiva Chocolate, Flamingo Needle Minder, Scissors, Bee Happy piece, and Beaded Scissors Fob I made. Here is a picture of the completed stitched piece I included: Bee Happy (aka Let’s Be Friends ) by Margaret Sherry from Cross Stitcher #226. Kitted as an add-on with purchase of magazine. After stitching this piece, I have officially decided that Margaret Sherry is my favorite designer (thus far)!   I gave Kim the option of finishing ...

I promised an update today and am pleased that I can make good on it. Here is the progress on Paris and Halloween , respectively: As you can see, I restitched the motifs that I had to frog the last time. I have also stitched some more of the motifs and the second “L”. I would say this is just about halfway to completion now. Whew!   I am not sure what I want to work on for the remainder of the month. My other WIPs aren’t calling to me like they usually do. I believe I have one piece from the Crazy Challenge that I mentioned will be finished this month, so I may continue on with that and then pick up either Coming Home or Cirque . Until next time…

Two posts in 1 day! Wow!!! I saw this on the AOL news scroll when I checked my email and thought I would share it. Hawthorn (May 13 - June 9) A multi-talented person like you has no trouble making friends. That will likely be especially true this St. Patrick's Day if you attend a wild party. Your social circle can expand in exciting ways. Granted, most of your new pals might be extremely unconventional, but that's what you love about them. It's fun being surrounded by people who are eager to try extreme sports, experiment with different artistic techniques and explore radical ideas. This is your big chance to explore uncharted territory. (May 21st) What is your sign? Check it out here ! I’d be curious to see how many Hawthorns read my blog!! Until next time…

Image borrowed from Tampa Bay Spartans Club. and…   May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.   Borrowed from: http://www.irishsayings.org/may-the-irish-hills-caress-you/116

  You’ve heard I suppose, long ago, How the snakes, in a manner most antic, He marched to the county Mayo, And trundled them into th’ Atlantic ~William Maginn       Borrowed from: http://www.irishsayings.org/youve-heard-i-suppose-long-ago/794

  May St. Patrick guard you wherever you go, and guide you in whatever you do– and may his loving protection be a blessing to you always. Borrowed from: http://www.irishsayings.org/may-st-patrick-guard-you-wherever-you-go/806

I spent the last few days working on different things. The first thing I worked on was the piece for my recent giveaway. I am happy to say that the package is on it’s way to the winner, therefore I cannot show that stitched piece. Here’s the box I sent:   I also got some more stitching in on Washington Monument :               And Woodrow Wilson : I am a couple days behind this month and plan to work on Paris tonight for a little while and Halloween tomorrow. I will share pics on Friday of those two pieces. Until next time…

In honor of my Irish ancestry and St. Patrick’s Day, I give you the Irish Setter: The Irish Setter VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL All images found through Google search.

I call this post "Family Junk" because that's exactly what it is. A lot of junk! My family can be is very dysfunctional. I was hoping we would be able to outgrow some of the junk, but obviously we cannot. I know that no family is perfect. They all have issues, but the issue(s) I am dealing with hurt so very much. I have NO ONE to talk to about how I feel about certain things and when I do all I get is "Oh well" in a real sarcastic tone or "It's just that age". Ok, so she's growing up, but I am so sick and tired of not getting my phone calls returned, being added and deleted from Facebook friend's list, and the snotty attitude. My heart is broken over the way I am treated by this one. I have spent three evenings now in tears and I know I shouldn't be this upset. But I am! Like I said, I have no one to talk to about this so here I am on my blog venting my frustrations. I am not going to allow comments on this post because I don't wan...

I managed to finish up The Siesta last night, well all but the French Knots. You may or may not notice where I placed my signature, but if you look closely at the lower left side of the bird cage you should find the year and my initials. Here is the completed (for now) piece: I also took some pics of my Sandy sleeping: She is so adorable – when she’s asleep! LOL…Seriously, I love my cat and she knows it, but she tends to go a bit overboard with the biting and scratching STILL. I hope she outgrows it soon because I don’t think I could stand to lose any more skin, haha.

…But first, a word from our sponsor! Last night found me working on Crazy Day 10, Try to Relax. Here is where I left things: As you can see, the facial features are beginning to pop out. They are mainly backstitched, but I like the effect of the crosses around them. And now for the winner! Thank you to everyone who entered and, again, WELCOME to my Newbies!! I truly welcome and appreciate all of the comments you make on my blog posts. Now, let’s get down to business. I had 17 people enter my giveaway this time. I used a Random Generator to choose the winner: #1 KIMBERLY R Kimberly, I will be sending you an email shortly to get your snail mail info. Again, a big Thank You to all who entered!!! Until next time…

And a BIG WELCOME to my newest followers! And boy have they been CrAzY ! I picked up a couple of days at the shop this week and I am tired and sore, lol! But it’s all good. I spent most of the day yesterday individually wrapping 250 roses for a local hospital. That job took over 6 hours! Today was more of a quiet day at the shop doing my normal stuff when I am not delivering floral arrangements. Enough of that! I spend Days 7 and 8 working on The Gardeners . Here is where I left things on the 7th: and on the 8th: This piece is coming together beautifully if I do say so myself! Last night I worked on Vibrant Vases . I have one of them almost finished (remember, there are two): I was in a groove while stitching last night. I ordered up Burlesque on PPV. Temptation got the best of me. I just need to pick up a copy of the DVD sometime soon! I plan to frame them together when they are completed. I will be drawing the winner of my Giveaway tomorrow morning! There’s still ...

I made mention last week that I would share recent pics of my newest kitty! Here is what she looked like a few months ago, shortly after being born: I’d say she was probably about a month old here. Here’s what she looks like now: She’s getting more of a chocolate color to her coat, which kinda saddens me, but it’s all good. She was given a flea powder treatment before these pictures were taken. Those pesky things are in great abundance around grandma’s house.   Here she is with one of her sister’s, Sophie: Sophie is definitely a grandma’s girl! She loves cuddling with my grandma and is just adorable. Notice the size difference? She was the runt and will probably be a very small adult cat. I wish I could bring them both home, but for now Ebony will remain with her siblings and mother and aunts and cousins at grandma’s house!