Happy New Year's Eve!

I'd like to wish all my friends a safe and merry New Year's Eve! Ours will be quiet! Jim's playing games on his 'puter. I'll be stitching and watching TV. We celebrated early! We got all dressed up and Jim took me out to lunch at The Sunriver Lodge. Had the most delish Hot Dungeness Crab Sandwich. It's such a pretty view even at this time of year when everything is blanketed in snow.

Moses

This cat is amazing! He thinks he is a dog and wants to go out in the snow with them. When he's ready to come in he will "attack" any window screen where he can be seen by us (usually outside the window by my computer desk). You can see what I have to deal with when he comes in. Of course, he wants to lay on my chest to warm up. Ugh!

Inside he sits in the window watching the bird feeders. We get many "ground feeders" such as quail and dove. Jim always puts seed on the ground as well as the hanging feeders. As you can see, he is "guarding the seed". Shame on him, cheeeky fellow!

Merry Christmas to me!

Oh my, I'm so excited! I did get something "stitchy" for Christmas! I was checking my comments and found that I'm the winner of Lynn B's Purple Ornament blog give away. http://happinessiscrossstitching.blogspot.com/ Lynn, I'm so honored!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all my readers! May the true spirit of Christmas be yours today and all year long.

I can't believe so much time has passed since my last entry here. I'll blame it on the time of year, etc, etc. Just a quick note to let you know that all our plumbing problems have been resolved.

We have snow to our knees and more snow storm warnings for the remainder of the week. Jim keeps our drive cleared as he has a blade for his Polaris Razor. The dogs love riding with him (helping). The county plows were here by 0700 today so they must've been clearing the main roads all night. (we live down a dirt road) We also had a beautiful sunny sunrise for Christmas. The sky is now all white & ready to snow again.

We are spending Christmas at home with the pets today. Originally our plans were to be in Eugene, Oregon at #2 son's house. Son #1 & family were supposed to arrive from Juneau, Alaska on Monday but all flights were cancelled due to weather. We drove to Eugene on Tuesday for a family Christmas party (which had a small turn-out). Wednesday morning after a huge breakfast we opened gifts with Son #2 & son #3 & two grandsons. The grandboy's mom gets them this Christmas so we celebrated early. DH decided we should head home before the next promised snow storm arrived. So, here we are!

I didn't get anything from my wish list! Santa must've thought I was a very bad girl this year! I didn't get anything stitching or quilting related at all! Got a lovely lap robe from son #2. My favorite gift was a beautiful scarf my almost-DIL knit for me. Oh well, guess I'll just keep on buying what I want when I can afford it.

I think the son's may have been a bit disappointed in their gifts. Since DH doesn't shop & it was left to me, I bought something useful yet inexpensive for everyone for under the tree. Then I called the USO and made donations in the names of all five adult children. The USO supplied thank you notes to each child which I placed on the tree. They couldn't complain as each of them has been in the service and their dad & son #1 are retired servicemen. With the remainder of my budget I purchased enough goodies to fill two boxes to send to a chaplain in Iraq. My heart is with our servicepeople who are separated from their loved ones.

I'm hoping each of you received you heart's desire this Christmas. As I mentioned before... it looked like snow. Well, it's dropping the white stuff again! So I'm going to check a few messages then spend the rest of the day stitching.

Still Freezing!

Well, our water situation hasn't improved yet and the weather's not warming up either! (Although it's beautifully sunny today. No new snow!) Yesterday's high was 3F. Again, this morning it was -10F. Jim's been to the hardware store and is under the house right now installing a new filter. The filter casing cracked & froze so we have water at the well pump but not to the house. I don't mind toting & heating water for dishes, it warms my hands. But I NEED a shower! Had to go to the doc's yesterday without taking a shower. I am not doing it again today! I'll go to the truck stop & take one if I have to.

On the stitching front: the frogs followed me home from Alabama! I'm just putting it all aside for a while. Maybe they'll freeze their little warts off!

It's Freezing!

Oh my! We awoke this morning to frozen pipes! It's -10F (-25C) and not warming up. Jim's been under the house checking the pipes and hauling water from the pump. Poor guy! We've accumulated nearly a foot of snow.

I love watching our dogs in the snow. Kelly still makes "snow angels" and her coat is so clean & soft. Jessie is obsessed with the bird feeder. Jim puts food on the ground since we have such a huge population of doves. This drives Jess crazy and she eats the seed whenever she's out.

Yesterday Jim tryed out the snow blade on his ATV. Not enough snow to really need it yet. Both dogs had to ride along so he took them for a spin around the property.

I'm all ready for Christmas! (Except the cards) Have to wait 'til Thursday when Jim's at the doc's to wrap his gift. He's in charge of getting (DS1) Ken's gift. Wow! One gift! We're not decorating much this year. Patrick (DS2) wants to host Christmas at his place. So we'll be traveling to Eugene. Ugh! I hate going over the pass in winter. Pat always does an over-kill Christmas but this year all of the boys will be together so I guess it's a good thing!

Both Jim & I have been having back problems. He doesn't complain much and I don't want to carry on about it here. We had a miserable weekend. I'm just tired of running into town to the doc's. Today we'll be discussing laser surgery! Ouch!

On that note, I must get ready to go. Wishing you all the blessings of Christmas.

I've found another on-line treasure!

PBS~PaperBackSwap http://www.paperbackswap.com is a website I found out about through Elaine's blog. When you sign up, you register a minimum of 10 books that you want to get rid of. For those, you get to choose 2 books to be sent to you. They have thousands! You can register as many books as you want. When someone wants one of your books you get an email. There is a link to print out a wrapper. It is printed on 2 sheets of regular computer paper. Their name and address and yours are already printed on there. You can either have an account there for postage or, like me, just take it to the post office for mailing. It costs a little over $2 to mail a regular paperback. For each book you mail out to another person, you get to choose another one. If you join and want to add me as a buddy my nickname is "omashee"

Home from Alabama

Guess it's about time to share about my wonderful visit with Erica, my grand-daughter, and the light of my life. It was sooo very difficult to leave. I'd move to Daphne in a heart beat if Jim would go. Like that'll ever happen! Darned camera isn't downloading so photos will have to follow.

We had such a wonderful time although Erica had finals to take. Her mom, Patti, was home on leave, recovering from surgery. We were able to do some shopping and find some fabulous buys. On "Black Friday" we took it slow and steady. I spent more on "ME" than I can ever remember. With Patti in recovery mode and me with my back, we were quite a team.

I had gotten some serious cortisone-like shots in my back prior to traveling. The trip there was a breeze! Great flights, on-time connections, and little back pain (I didn't even wear a pain patch). Well, that didn't last! The return trip was chaos! Broken planes, rerouted schedules, pain patches at two levels on my back! Ouch!Fortunately I was able to make the last flight of the day into Redmond.

Our Thanksgiving was very quiet! We went to Cracker Barrel to eat as Erica's half-sister was working there. Then Erica joined her boyfriend's family for their dinner. I tried to stitch a bit. The frogs were out in full force!

I was so thankful to have this time with Erica and Patti. My visits are always so restful and I truly enjoy all the "girl time". I have been blessed in so many ways. I pray that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

There are FROGS in Alabama!

Oh my! One of us ran over a little frog in the driveway! Flatter than a pancake! Sure wish I could do that to all the stitching frogs I found while I was there! I took three stitching pieces to work on during my visit. All three came home needing to be un-stitched. Dang! Guess I really can't visit and stitch.

Silent Auction for Breast Cancer Research

A quick reminder that the 11th Annual Silent Auction for Breast Cancer Research is this Saturday evening, November 22 from 6 - 8pm. I've gotten several e-mails from them showing the beautiful items donated. All hand stitched! Please take a look and support this cause if you can! http://www.atticneedlework.com/cancer.html

Leaving Town

I'm off at oh-dark-thirty tomorrow morning for Alabama to spend a few weeks with my grand daughter, Erica. I'm so excited! We always have such fun. It's kind-of a tradition that we spend Thanksgiving together.

The getting there and back aren't my favorite things. Air travel has become such a pain. But, an adventure it will be! Last May I got stranded in Houston and spent the night at the Airport Marriot, arriving a day late for Erica's graduation! Taking a different airline this time so we'll see how off schedule their flights can be.

Have been working hard at getting the worst of my Christmas shopping finished before I go. Whew! We've got Jim's eldest son & family coming, that's five extra people!

I'm going to try my darndest to keep up with my e-mail. Don't know if I'll do much posting here tho.

Making New Friends...

WOW! I don't think I've ever done so many posts in one day before! Just a lot going on and I haven't been very faithful to my blog.

I answered an ad in our utility company's magazine a week or so ago. Someone was getting rid of cross stitch supplies... Turns out to be an 84 years-young lady in a near-by town. We've struck up an e-mail friendship and I intend to pay her a visit when I return from Alabama. Her name is Jeanne and she sent me three wonderful charts (Ursula Michaels and Linda Myers), two hand towels, a Christmas Ornament kit and a lovely piece she had stitched but wasn't planning to frame. I had told her I do some charity stitching and she thought it could be donated. I hope to incorporate it into a quilt next year. Here's a photo... I don't know what the pattern is called.

Jeanne says she's had an enormous response to her ad. She divided her stash up and sent off many packets. She had several stitchers stop by her home to choose some items also. You see! There are stitchers out there! I'd sure like to get to know some in this area.

The Red Thread

OMG! I was sure I had shown you this piece before. Looking back through my blog I found it on May 1st. Now that's just pitiful! I'm finished with all the blocks and am about 2/3ds done with the border. This is going to be a bear to frame so I'm sure it will have to be done professionally. That means next year!

Bent Creek's Snapper Series "The Red Thread"

WIPs

Figure it's about time I showed what I have been doing when I can...

This is barely a start on my last freebie for the SanMan board. Its' called "Magic Hat". It's part of the 12 Days of Christmas SAL. I'm hoping Robin will accept this as enough for me to get the next piece in this SAL as we have to show a photo of each piece to get the next one. Shamefully, I've been so involved in SALs this year I haven't done any Christmas stitching other than these.

Catching up again!

Oh my, where does the time go? I have so much to add here...

I haven't been stitching as much as I'd like (as usual) but I have been getting my sewing room set up. I switched rooms for the better lighting. I lost a bit of closet space but I think it'll be ok. Painting the room took me a while but swapping the closets took longest. It's all done, we have a fresh new guest room with new curtains and a lovely old quilt hanging on the wall. I have a bright new sewing room with a ceiling fan and great natural lighting. It's almost a workable space!

Throw in my packing for my annual visit with our grand daughter in Alabama. AND trying to get Christmas presents organized since I won't be home 'til December 10th (and we have all the boys and spouses and grandkids coming this year). AND all the doctor's appointments, etc. It's just way too hectic for me! Can't wait to get to Alabama for a rest!

Great News!

I just found a great site I want to tell you about. http://www.atticneedlework.com/cancer.html
This is where the 11th Annual Silent Auction for Breast Cancer Research is held. This year it's on Saturday, November 22d from 6 to 8pm. That's a very small window of time so I want to get the word out. The site allows you to take a look at the past years items for auction and there are some really beautiful items. Let's all do what we can to support this effort, PLEASE!

Itchy Fingers

Oh, my fingers are getting itchy to do some quilting. Unfortunately, I can't get to my machine yet. I did get my new sewing room painted and the major pieces of furniture moved. I haven't got the closets switched and I want to paint there and the built-in shelves. I thought we were having an over-night visitor tonight so I tried to keep it tidy. A no-show! But we do have a son and two grandsons arriving for the week-end. So I guess I'll have to wait again.

Meanwhile, I am trying to get some cross stitching done each night. Finished a square for Quilts for Breast Cancer. Am working on The Red Thread series still. Will update with photos soon.

Quilting GTG

I had such an inspiring day yesterday! I attended a gathering of quilters from the Portland, Oregon area. I had met one of the ladies, Kathy, on-line and she invited me to join them for the afternoon. Twice yearly they have a four day retreat at Jan Sims' place in Sisters (which is only an hour from me). Jan is a very experienced long-arm quilter and it was exciting to watch her work. Her home and workshop are so amazing. Her home is a log cabin type with an open upstairs with quilts hanging over the railings. Even the shower curtains are quilted! The ladies each were working on quilting projects of their own and such beautiful quilts I've never seen. Such a wonderful, amazing group of women! I'm so inspired!

Oh, by the way, both Jan & Kathy are involved in making quilts for our wounded soldiers! Another project I really want to become involved with.

OMG!!!

At first it seemed strange, but the words were mine! A moment later is struck me! My blog was missing all the color amd most of the elements! Yikes! So I finished the last post and started mucking around. Fortunately, I had recently backed it up. Looks like we're back to normal ( for me a state of confusion)! Please don't forget to back up your work! It's so important and can save that sinking panicy feeling when the systems goes burp!

Catching Up

Oh Dear! I have so much to say and feel I've been away forever. I've been ill, again. It started out as a head cold, but now it's in my chest. You know how that feels. So I'm running at a greatly reduce speed (and my normal is pretty slow already!).

On Saturday, October 4th, my dear friend, Julie, from Seattle arrived. We hadn't seen each other in years. We worked together back before I retired. She's retired now too. Anyways! She had called a while back to wish me Happy Birthday and during our conversation we reminisced of our trip to Mexico. Both being retired ladies, we decided a road trip was in order.

We left for Lake Tahoe on Sunday. I had reserved a 2 bedroom condo for us. It was lovely! The weather was gorgeous & warm! We took a paddle wheeler tour of the lake and drove around the lake. Lots more shopping than gambling! And way too much good food!