Signs of Peace

Tonight I want to show you a Chichi's plate, a saucer size, hamburger, all the way with fries..........
this makes Peace for me........no yapping while I'm stitching tonight. ;)

And here's your sign! LOL

And here's my Peace block I'm working on with my new toy!!! I like this scroll frame. Having a little problem with the tension of it but I think I should have ironed this stiff Creekbed Brown before sewing on the frame. We live and learn........

It makes a comfortable seating in front of the President on TV tonight to hear his speech. I digress.......let's play nice.......LOL

But, ladies and gentlemen of the United States of America, my nominee for the next Nobel Peace Prize winner goes to~~~~~{{big drumroll}}

Mr. Renster Dalenberg, i.e. Ren

He has fought for canine rights all around the world. He has banned dog food, even premium dogfood, as a equal selection for canines.

He promises to yap endlessly until he is treated as an equal with his human counterpart.

He brings more peace to human hearts than anyone will ever know. Go Ren!

Sharing a new, old book

This morning I'm doing lots of things for fancy. One favorite passion of mine is reading. I love used bookstores especially. My car brakes very hard for them.

I got this little paperback in July when I went to Sylva, North Carolina, a little small country town on the way to Pigeon Forge. For 50 cents, I got this book, really because it just looked like a good autobiography, which I love to read.

The name of it is Growing Up by the Pulitzer Prize winner Russell Baker. And, it's good reading so far. It's one of those books, you just don't want to put down. It was written in 1982.

On the back of the book is:

This is Russell Baker's story of growing up in America between the world wars--in the backwoods mountains of Virginia, in a New Jersey commuter town, and finally in the Depression-shadowed urban landscape of Baltimore. It is a story of adversity and courage, of the poignancy of love and the awkwardness of sex, or family bonds, and family tensions. We meet the people who influenced Baker's early life and the everyday heroes and heroines of the Depression who faced disaster with good cheer and usually muddled through. Every page has something wonderful.

I've only gotten a small part of it read yet but he has some wisdom I'd like to share in it. Chapter one starts out talking about his conversations with his mother at her bedside in her last days and she has dementia. He always tried to pull her back to the present but she would intermittently think she was at different ages in the distant past, when she was much happier.

He says, " Children rarely want to know who their parents were before they were parents, and when age finally stirs their curiosity, there is no parent left to tell them. "

And

"As I hovered over my mother's bed listening for muffled signals from her childhood, I realized that this same dispute had existed between her and me. When she was young, with life ahead of her, I had been her future and resented it. Instinctively, I wanted to break free, cease being a creature defined by her time, consign her future to the past, and create my own. Well, I had finally done that, and then with my own children I had seen my exciting future become their boring past."

And

" These hopeless end-of-the-line visits with my mother made me wish I had not thrown off my own past so carelessly. We all come from the past, and children ought to know what it was that went into their making, to know that life is a braided cord of humanity stretching up from time long gone, and that it cannot be defined by the span of a single journey from diaper to shroud"

Just some thoughts this morning to ponder.

Friday is here and I'm so glad!

Today:

I went to work, thanking God I have a job . I'm blessed.

Went into shock when I heard the news of the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Went into the restroom and splashed water on my face and got a little better........LOL

Rushed from work in one town to another town to meet friends to go to a funeral.

Ate a super size order of french fries from McDonald's for my lunch with a large tea in my car reading a very old paperback book I got at a bookstore months ago .........for 50 cents. It's actually pretty good!

Laughed with friends. I know I'm getting older when I started to get the feeling of The Golden Girls show.

Decided at the beginning of the service that a Large tea from McDonalds was not a good decision right before having to sit still for awhile. What was I thinking?

Decided after a funeral that I need to make a Bucket List indeed. Life is too short.

Waded through touristy traffic and leaf-watching to go by the winery and try a new wine, named Scarlett and it's pretty doggone tasty too........

Waited on Ren outside to potty for a lengthy period of time as his night-time bowl of wheaties must not be helping his ....hmmmm........constipation. I know that's pretty personal but if you can only imagine a hairless old chihauaha straining so hard that both his back legs raise up in the air, and he glances around with his opaque eyes.......you would understand. ;)

Watched Ren turn away from the premium of premium dog food and sadly went back to lay in his blanket until he figured out a couple of hours later.........geez, that was supper......LOL

Came home and as I unlocked the door, glanced over and Thomas was lounging in a blanket on the front porch swing, unmoved by my return home.

Cooked some fresh sweet corn on the cob and fresh asparagus tonight with leftover chicken.

Walked the 2 mile walk after dinner with our Labs who are adventuresome as Thelma and Louise. They know the difference when we go out of the house to walk vs. going to work or other places. They snort, grunt, jump up and down, Raven even raises her upper lip to show her teeth for big smiles. Ruby thinks that every day I need to run up the driveway with her until I"m out of breath (which by the way is not very far). LOL

Got a call from my elderly friend that at age 76 she has gotten her first computer, and amazed, simply amazed at this thing she said called.........Internet Explorer

Watched the Monster Mash Halloween movied I made with my family pictures in it. Laughed so hard my sides hurt. Of course, the silly thing automatically put MY head on the witch in the middle riding a broomstick.........LOL

Cuddled with my hubbie while we heard acorns falling on our tin roof and sounding like gunshots! I will say this year these are the largest acorns I've ever, ever seen. I run to the car hoping I don't need a helmet this year!

Well, today was just another day as you can see and life is a journey. The speaker at the funeral today was very good. He told everyone to go home and look up thedash.com for a poem so that is what I plan to do to end my day, along with a little stitching and Anderson Cooper tonight.

I hope your journey today went well too............

Till later,

Jennifer

The Monster Mash Movie starring my friends' family

http://www.monstermashup.com/be93a9

For a rolling in the floor laugh, please, click this link above. I put my own family pics in it and I can't get it to transfer but you can have fun with it by putting your friends or family in it.....
A Monster Mash movie LOL
The one that plays is a friend of mines. I will work harder tomorrow night getting ours in it. I can download to Realplayer and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Thrifty Thursday

Today was quite busy at work. I then went to Walmart for grocery shopping......on an empty stomach! Not good. Lots of goodies. I know the the lady in my check-out line was having quite a PMS day but I guess we all have them. LOL Let's just say I don't think she will be the Walmart greeter! ;)

Came home to this mail package on my porch! Wow! that was fast shipping and this is one of the best deals on ebay I've had in a long time. You know there are some good deals and then some Not so Good deals on Ebay, but this is a really good deal here. BodyGuard probably thinks I need a 12 step program now for my stitching addiction. I was so giddy when we were opening the box!

K's Frames, just as described and looks like it was never used. Yep, the bag is beautiful with dark navy outside and pretty pink flowers on the inside.

Zippered bag~~~~

Original instructions and warrenty

The bag looks brand new.

One thing I will probably get is the black T knobs you can get to cover the screw thingies so it will be a little better without hanging threads and wearing my fingers out. I tend to be a littley clutsy sometimes.

So, onward to putting groceries up~~~~ I got some Echinacca tea. I need to boost my immune system and this tea and my vitamins hopefully will do just that.

My pantry shelf also has lavender and valerian, chamomile in the Dutch girl jar for those restless days.

And for the little picky eater in the house, Ren, who now expects buffet service promptly at 6pm, I found these which were quite pricey but will tuck in the pantry for those times we eat out. I got 3 of them just to see if his tastey palette will delight in them!

Of course, he preferred the Rotisserie chicken with Rosemary and Garlic with us tonight and it was quite tasty from Walmart. I couldn't resist one as they just took them off the rack and I'm too pooped tonight to cook. These were not too much of a thrifty find but the label says all picky eaters will eat these, so we'll see. {{{{{giggle}}}} If not, I will always have Cheerios and Honey and Oats cereal on hand. He will eat that with milk but not after it gets mushy, has to be crunchy. What a character!

Well, it's time for some Nancy Grace show updates on the current crime cases. I watch her show just about every night. I'm not particularly fond of her personality but I like to follow the cases. Then, on to Anderson Cooper on CNN and then O'Reilly Factor. What a night but this is when I do my stitching. In another life, I will be a lawyer..........LOL

I'm so excited about the give-a-way next week! I really do appreciate all that read my blog!

I've been so blessed to meet so many stitchers all over the world! Thanks again!

Bordering the Peace

Bordering~~~~~~

Bordering the Peace block tonight

I watched too much O'Reilly Factor and didn't stitch fast enough but did get most of the border done. I can't wait to get to the house in it. I love to stitch houses.
My goal is to have it completed and framed by Halloween.....let's see if I can make that goal......

Interesting to watch all the news on Afghanistan as I stitch the Peace section. This will be a mark in his presidency folks so I have a sampler to prove what I was doing while the President made the decision about Afghanistan which on either way of sending troops or not to send will put him in a predicament. Maybe one day while I'm in the nursing home and reading through my stitching journals I can say, Yep, I remember that one. That's the one that was a critical decision in AFghanistan.
Well, on to another day of the week tomorrow, Thankful Thursday. I will post what I'm most thankful for tomorrow. It's a strategy I'm trying to stay with to ignore the things I cannot do anything about. Stay tuned.

Peace~~~ a so long desired concept that we really need in our country right now.

Before my son went to Afghanistan I was not a political person. Now, I'm gaining more insight at the political world......yeppers, Peace. Peace is what we want at Christmas and say that it will last all year but does it really?

There are concepts that I deal with daily that zap that peace right out. I have to work on coping with that and moving on to fun things like stitching and friends and chocolate, and oh, I am rambling.....time for bed :)

October Give-A-Way Breast Cancer Awareness Month

After listening to what you voted for in the polls here, I picked carefully a few things for a give-a-way to add to any stitcher's stash! The favorites seem to be 32 count linen and Crescent Colors Floss........

First, I'm envious.....I wanted these scissors, Oh how I wanted for these scissors when I saw them at The Dogwood Patch! The color is my favorite--PINK! And, they are Kelmscott scissors, Breast Cancer Awareness scissors. Cool! Cool! Cool!

The give-a-way includes:

Little House Needleworks design "The Mountains"---honestly, honestly, it struck me on the ride home from the needlework shop that I picked out a design called The Mountains for Breast Cancer Awareness Month..........I really didn't intentionally pick out something called "The Mountains" to match something related to the breasts but.......it just happened!

This kit includes the Crescent Colors Silk Floss in

• Chocolate
• Baguette
• Icing
• Blue Lagoon
• Cinnamon Stick
• Eiffel Tower
• Enchanted Forest
• Creme de Menthe

This kit is one of the kits included in the "From Sea to Shining Sea" Series which can be stitched together but alone are still very pretty designs.
If you haven't used silk floss before, this will spoil you! Stitches like butter!

I also picked out 32 count Belfast Natural Raw Linen---9 x 10 inch cut and serged

A small basket to hold your notions or threads

This give-a-way is in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

To enter for a chance at the give-a-way simply:

1. add your name as a follower to the blog (or if you already a follower skip this one)
2. put a post in this posting only by 12 midnight on Oct 15th, drawing to be announced on October 16th Saturday---- please include a way to communicate if you win.
3. If you want to put your name in twice, put another post that you announced it on your blog (if you have one)
4. And for a chance at your name going in 3 times, put another post with the name of your favorite designer or designers.

Remember to put these only from this posting; otherwise, my senior brain will not be able to keep up with it! ;)

Good luck, and remember to schedule that mammogram if you are over 40...and female.....I have to add that part.

A Stitchy Kind of Day

I started out the day going to Hawaissee, to the Dogwood Patch. It was a steamy, cool, day. The trees are starting to change.

I went through Helen. This is a good bakery. Helen was quite busy for the middle of the week, I guess because of peak Octoberfest season.

The folks behind me in my car probably cursed each time I just stopped in the middle of rode when I wanted to snap a pic..........

I finished block 5 of Heart of America tonight. I'm loving the colors and can't wait to move on to

another block......hmmmm which will it be? well, right now I'm leaning towards the 1st block to the left and then downward with a final finish at the bottom.

That Honor block took me twice as long as I thought it would but so worth it! The colors are gorgeous.

The directions say to put your own initials in this block........I almost put Brandon's there.

The earlier part of my day was a trip to my LNS, the Dogwood Patch, soon to be changed to another location to Buford, Georgia and renamed The Stitch Store. Terrie is such a cool friend. We had Daniel's buffet for lunch and everything they have is wonderful! Then got some goodies for a friend of mine to start stitching and I will post a pic of it when she receives it, it's a surpise.......and also I gathered some special items for a give-a-way.

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we all know at least one person who has touched our life with breast cancer. Current evidence shows that 1 out of 8 women in their lifetime will receive a diagnosis of breast cancer. My give a way pics and post will be posted most likely Thurs or Fri. so stand by for a chance at some goodies.

Over 40 years of age, mammograms are recommended yearly. I encourage all women reading this blog to stop this week and take a few minutes to call your GYN health care provider for scheduling that routine mammogram. October is a good time to remember yearly as many advertisements and products promote their pink labeling due to the Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

In my own practice, breast cancer has touched the lives of many people, most get an early diagnosis and are doing well. Digital mammography has come a long way now and detects early signs.

In my personal life, I have had one friend I especially remember in October each year. Her name was Dianne. Dianne was one of my first Women's Health Nurse Practitioner clinical instructors and she had a late diagnosis and unfortunately died for the disease. I think of Dianne alot because she taught me so much of the obstetrical background of my graduate program.

Look in your local papers if insurance is an issue because during the month of October, many mobile units offer mammograms at reduced costs.

Of course, I can't go to Terrie's and not come home with another project or two but most of the afternoon we spent on learning some basics and helping her set up a Google Blogger.

So stay tuned for her new stitching blog called Sprinkles!

The goodies and giveaway will be posted at a later time this week.

Tomorrow after work I unfortunately have to attend a viewing. One of my coworkers close friend, died last night of a heart attack. He really was a good man and I'm very saddened to hear this. Margaret, you are in my prayers!

Well, I have to run now type a letter for work and then on to snooze time for that 6am awakening............

Ren has had at least 3 bowls of frosty minwheats, 2 hotdogs, a piecs of fried chicken and a roll.

The dog is living it up! LOL

Things he will not eat include dogfood of any type, green beans, celery, snow peas, bread with it lightly toasted. Ok, I know he is spoiled. I take the blame for it! ;)

The makings of a good Fall evening

This is one thing I absolutely love---my tin which melts the most fragrant tarts, which I have right now in Pumpkin Pie. The fragrance is stronger than a candle and makes the house smell luscious! I've just got to bake a pumpkin pie this weekend.

My nesting spot for the Blue House Sampler landed here...........

right by the Body Guard's favorite resting spot in the evening. His dad made this corner clock many, many years ago and we enjoy it.

Here's my progress so far tonight on the Heart of America. I'm watching every news clip tonight I can while I stitch the Honor section. Obama, please send help where help is needed. Our men are fighting and they need the help. Hello???? After receiving the news that pulling the troops out of Afghanistan will not be an option, then let's get in there and protect the ones we have in this dangerous situation. Meeting with McCrystal more than 25 minutes every 3 months might demonstrate an interest. I don't think the General would ask for more troops if the situation didn't warrant it.

And, it helps to calm down with a good fire and a good hubbie who gives me a foot rub to make the day pass away..........

When I first got home, we built a fire----correction he built a fire, then I lit all my pumpkin tea light candles and got my tart warmer going so the house is filled with calming scents.

A fireplace does wonders for me. Before I knew it, I had grabbed the heavy quilt and took a brief nap before starting my stitching. It makes me sooooooo sleepy.

I've always dreamed of a fireplace in the bedroom.....so relaxing.

The rains have stopped and hoping for a bright, sunshiney day tomorrow. The leaves are beginning to change. On my way home from work, I saw the world in DMC and Crescent colors. LOL Joshua Tree Green and DMC 211 are the leaf colors now.

Tomorrow, I plan to go to my LNS and lunch at my favorite restaurant there.

Back to stitching and news..............

The rains and Monday

Well, I have a quick break. The morning is a dreary, dark, dark and did I say dreary ? outside with misty rains. I guess our weather forecaster was a wee bit off track.

I know on my list of things to do tonight is to
1/ find another beginner project for Parsley and mail. I'm enabling a friend! LOL
2/find my lost library book
3/catchup more on Heart of America
4/plan out what I need from my LNS, may go tomorrow on my day off

My reasoning behind the polls at the right is because I wanted to get a give-away gift which included what readers' interests are particularly. Looks like there is a close run between 32 and 40 count for linen and Crescent Colors won for threads!
This gives me some ideas. Stay tuned this week for an October give-away!

I tell you that my very favorite from the St. Charles needlework show is Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow but it's quite a big project to start now for Christmas, I may have to keep in mind for next year though.

Samplers, samplers, samplers. I love 'em!

Hope the sun is shining and your Monday is bright!

Jennifer

Waiting by the mums for mum.........

Raven and Ruby, also known as Thelma and Louise, were waiting a long time today for me to come out of the house. I have been quite the hermit this weekend. Here they are looking into the house to see if any motion is stirring this morning. It's almost as if they can sense the stress as we watched the morning news to see the big battle that occured in Afghanistan through the night. Such a mess. I'm so much trying to not speak of politics here but, I have to say, Obama is scaring me, quite frankly, by being so slow to take advice from a good commander. If we need more people, and after last night's battles he should see, then send them for support. Riding the fence seems to be his pattern but it is not going to work with this war. But that's just my opinion. Ok, I feel better now........

Not much stitching at all today, but plan to work and catch up on the TV news in a few to fight insomnia. I basically researched and read alot today and time flew by in a jiffy. Bodyguard coaxed me away from the computer with chocolate cake from the grocery store about 4ish. He could read my mind that chocolate cures anything! LOL

Last night we had flood warnings out for this afternoon. But no rain today. That was strange but we have had our share of rain lately so that was fine by me!

I researched about frames and came to the conclusion that there is not one way to stitch. I did win the frame on EBay---Yey! With much thought realized that this is going to be great for travel, but most likely I will still do most of my stitching with a floor stand.

And then there are times, I use an old-fashioned hoop. Then at times, I hold my stitching with no frame, no hoop, just me and the fabric/thread.

I feel good about my decision to get this goody because the price was absolutely a good deal. Seems someone was cleaning out their basement and I got a good deal if not for all the time, but for travel. I just haven't yet figured out how on the bumpy interstate highways to not have the needle bob up and down until I find the right place to stitch. The car we have now is so much better with traveling and stitching than our previous one and hopefully on our 13 hour trip in Dec. I should get some stitching done. Now, I will change my mind a hundred times before we leave on what project/projects I will carry with me! ; )

Ok, I can tell I'm rambling......LOL

Hope your Sunday has been restful.........

The Bay of Good and Evil

Oh, I'm using Deb's phrase for Ebay, the Bay of Evil, today as the Bay of Good and Evil.......
I'm so not needing to shop but I couldn't help but catch my eye on this and made a bid on it.
Just wondering if any of you have experience with this type of dowel system. I think I could order some of those black knobs to cover the screw thingies on the side which I've heard make it much better to use. The seller says the bag is slightly worn but the product has never been used.

This is the bag cover for storage, which I thought was kinda cool for storing it away.

And it collaspes down for travel.....ok, now, I'm preparing for my Dec trip to Chicago......we're driving......yes, driving my friends, 13 hours.........oops back to the frame

They say it has the instructions and papers but it will already be put together. The length of the dowels are about 18 inches, so not a large, large one.

If anything, I could use it for a weapon if needed in Chicago, right? LOL

Just joking, really. I've checked out a really good site Deb sent me and I love them. I think this is like those, not sure. Any experience with these?

Block 4 complete and on to block 5--Honor