Mystery............

I guess I am really getting old. While trying to relieve some of my "stash-buying withdrawal" I was looking through all the folders, notebooks and plastics sleeves I have filled with charts friends have sent to me. In the back of a very old brown folder I found this beauty. I am pretty sure it is from Jean, who I met through Cyberstitchers. She is very fond of owls. The only thing is, there is only this lovely photo and no chart. Have I lost the chart? Sent it on to someone else? Was it just a photo sent to me as inspiration? I do not know. Jean if you are out there ( I'll send you an embarrassing e-mail to confirm my stupidity also) can you explain this one. It really is a beautiful design. Any one of the animals individually would make a nice ornament.

Just hooked on the computer today for some reason. Maybe it is because I know my days are numbered as to how much "me time" I have left this week. Oh well, the marathon weekend looming ahead will make up for past Friday's snow day and next Friday's Easter holiday days off from work. Somehow it will even out and I may even come out ahead financially on this one.

Here is my latest Easter wishful thinking idea. This cake looks great, and not too difficult to make. I am the choco-holic in this house, so Joe would appreciate something of an alternative flavor. I watched a very interesting show on The Food Network last night about making corn beef. I wanted to try it for St. Patrick's Day, but the first step was "prepare brine and spice solution and soak brisket for 10 days". Oh well, another year shot on that one. It's all moving too quickly....everything except this pitiful dial-up connection.

Maybe I'll be back to post again tonight..................

Hey, how about those photos ( part 2)?

Yeah!!! Here they are FINALLY. I guess Google fixed itself. After several days and many, many tries I can finally post my photos. It seems rather pointless now to post photos of the snow. In the last two days it has warmed up dramatically and most of the snow is already gone. March is such a weird weather month.

Here is the guest of honor, Mark with his cake and gifts. We got him a barbecue set for grilling fish or veggies ( the odd looking frying pan with the holes in it). Overall a rather pleasant weekend although I didn't see much of Joe. He and Mark spent most of their time together visiting other friends ( within walking distance), so it was more of a "Boys Weekend".

It was a stitchy weekend for me though. Here is Prairie Schoolers "R is for Rabbit". I started and finished this one in three snowy days. I loved working on it. I could feel the gardening "growing" as I stitched it. The rabbit himself is just amazing. One of PSs most beautifully detailed animals I have ever seen. The whole design reminded me of the movie "Cold Mountain".....the grand old house up on the hill overlooking the garden. I love historical costume dramas and I waited for years for this one to come around to TV. I was a bit shocked though as I was similarly when I first saw "The Piano". I expected the beautiful costumes and scenery and a nice old-fashioned romance story. Well I got both of these in both these movies, but I was so surprised at the violence. Of course it went along with the story and added to the theme of these movies, but I really wasn't expecting it at all.Another long weekend looms ahead. The Level 6-9 District Championship competition was canceled last weekend. The Level 4 and 5s are on Saturday. This is the competition I am taking over for Jill as it is her daughter's Sweet Sixteen party (even though she has known about the competition schedule since August). The 6-9 meet has been rescheduled for Sunday. Becca. the Level 6 coach had already bought her plane ticket to Jamaica for spring break assuming her competitions were over for the season on the 8th. So I am also coaching the 6s at the competition on the 16th. I really do love working with this group, but that's a lot of traveling and time away from home this weekend. But it does mean a bit more money to spend on Easter stuff.

Everything is speeding up. This "spring forward" with the clocks makes me feel like I have lost much more then one hour last Sunday. I feel like the whole calender is closing in on me. I had the best of intentions to be well done with a lot more UFOs and on to some Easter gifts to mail to friends. I don't think it is happening this year. I am still keeping to the New Year's resolution and have not bought a single craft/needlework item. Thanks to wonderful friends I don't feel at all deprived.

Let's try those photos once again........

Trying to put up the photos from my last post. I wonder if Google has cured itself yet?








No.

Blizzard

Yes, it was actually declared a blizzard from late Friday night through most of the day Saturday. Our final total after nearly 32 hours on non-stop snow was somewhere between 14 and 16 inches of snow. The high winds didn't help much in the measuring. As you can see Bud had a rather clear area to run on, but it was piled up at the door of his dog house. Coal, on the other hand, had some trouble navigating the white stuff that went up to his belly and beyond. He really did like it though and even rolled around in it like a dog. Bud left that foolish behaviour to the cat.
Stayed inside all day and, as predicted, the big party dwindled down to just me, Joe and Mark the guest of honor. It was lucky Joe brought home half the party food the night before. Now we need to find our way over to his boss's house and reclaim the rest of it. There is enough for at least four large meals that I can save in the freezer. The second cake is going to work with me on Tuesday for a party for one of the teachers who is moving away.
Spent all day stitching (and refilling the wood stove) and even started something new. Ah yes, the forbidden "new start", but I couldn't resist. It is Prairie Schooler's "R is for Rabbit". The rabbit is so cute! I think I may be able to finish it today, as it looks as if we are stuck inside for a least another 24 hours. So I will save a photo until it is nearly done. Then it will not fall into that ever-growing UFO category. Many thanks to the lovely and generous Harmien for granting my wish for the two Prairie Schooler freebie cards. I have so many wonderful stitching friends that it makes all the bad things in Life just fade away into the distance. I am truely blessed by all the great people I have met through blogging, on Cyberstitchers, and through many gymnastics and royalty chat boards. Being suspended in my "White Solitude" for the past 48 hours has made me appreciate them even more.

Hmmm, for some reason Google is coming up with some sort of "server error" that will not allow me to post my photos here. I'll put up the text and then try to add the photos later. Maybe by then "R is for Rabbit" will be done.

The 'White Death' Cometh

Maybe I have been watching too much of "The Tudors" and it is altering my speech! Here it comes, the largest predicted snowfall of the season. So far as I can see the predictions are actually correct this time. It started at about 7:45am and already we have three inches on the ground by 11am. The schools are letting out early and I wonder if we will have gymnastics team practice tonight. It is the big District competition for the Levels 6 through 9 girls tomorrow, so it doesn't effect me directly. As usual my boss will wait until the last possible moment to decide on this.....most likely after I have gone out and cleared off the car and the driveway; possibly even after I have started on my way. I live the farthest from the gym and on days like today I leave extra early to allow myself enough time to navigate the winding and hilly back roads of my rural town. I have heard from my neighbor who is the City Manager of Lebanon, the town where I work, and she says the City government buildings are closing down at lunchtime, which is right now.

So I sit and watch the snow pile up with my usual childish delight. Though the delight and glee are a bit dampened by the fact the my big surprise party will probably be a total failure. The guest of honor has already called to ask if the birthday dinner is still on for tomorrow. He has no idea that I am planning a much larger party and I nearly had to give up the secret in order to convince him to still come. He said he was leaving work at that moment (10am). He works on a road construction crew and work had been called off for the rest of the weekend. I suppose he is now trying to make the over 80 mile journey north from Kentucky to Clarksville with his two Jack Russell terriers. There is another large glitch in the works as all of the food was brought over to Joe's boss's house this morning when I took Joe to work. Here is the scenic view out the car window when we arrived there at 9am. I have already called over there to ask Joe to bring home one of the cakes and one of the pans of lasagna in case we have to seriously scale down the party to just me, Joe, Mark and our neighbors Roy and Sharee. The cake assembly went along pretty well last night. I am rather organized with all of this, except that the lovely snow has now turned it all upside-down. Oh well, there could be worse things then being stuck at home with nothing to do but stitch all day. In regards to my "I Want Must Have Them"post about the new Prairie Schooler designs, my prayers were answered by my wonderful friend Nicole in Belgium! Thank you so much Nicole for your kindness and generousity. Of course my wish list still includes a few more items and I was wondering if anyone has these little freebie cards by PS that they are willing to share with me?

Again I close with two contented cats. This is Mocha. I don't think I have shown her photo before. She is the very shy cat who lives in our barn and on our porch. She is friendly to me and lets me pet her and pick her up, but she runs away from anyone else. Here she is crunching away on her food in the barn. I sat out there with her for about an hour this morning, enjoying the snow from the relative warmth of the barn. Lastly, here is Sammy resting on the little whicker table in our living room.

Hopefully more snow updates and photos later today...............

Another Finish

Finally, another finish from the UFO bag. Birds of a Feather "Blackbird Sampler". The vines were supposed to be in black, but I thought that was a bit too depressing so I changed it to dark green. The kitchen floor has stopped calling out to me...now it is just a low whimper every now and then. I did give it a good cleaning, but since the kitchen door is our main entrance it is a hopeless battle. The massive food preparation goes on for the party on Saturday night. I finished two large pans of lasagna, and about 120 little meatballs. Now I must put those in the big slow cooker pot and add tomato sauce. Then they make the trip to Joe's boss's house to "hide out" in his industrial sized fridge until I start the cooking process on Saturday afternoon. The two pans of uncooked lasagna are in there too. Both cakes are done....well, half done. The cake parts are made; one chocolate, one vanilla. The chocolate one gets a cheese cake filling and cream cheese icing and the vanilla one gets a chocolate mousse filling and chocolate icing. I think that should be enough variety to suit everyone. So far there are about 20 people attending. But I've been to parties at this place before and they tend to "expand" as the evening progresses.

Done some stitching on the next UFO, "French Sampler", but I see no end in sight. It is not really a top priority item as it is not a gift, just something for our own house. Those type of "for me only" projects tend to fall by the wayside. I am still burning with desire for the new Prairie Schooler booklets.

Speaking of 'burning with desire' I am watching the re-runs of "The Tudors" the Showtime TV series. Ah, the young man who plays the youthful Henry VIII is absolutely gorgeous! His name is Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. The acting is superb and the costumes are stunning. I didn't think I would like a drama from this time period as I have always found that era a bit rough and violent ( lots of heads being chopped off and stuff like that). Now I find myself researching a lot of the details and even plotting to make some of the costumes in doll size.

Well, another interesting evening at the gym last night. Jill has no decided she immediately wants out of coaching Level 4, the group we legitimately "share". She wants to be a bus driver now and coaching at 4:30pm conflicts with her new, now more all-important schedule. I suppose she is still sticking with her domination of Level 5, but I didn't even want to ask. I am just stunned that my boss goes along with this. To just drop a group at the end of the season is rather confusing to the gymnasts. Now wait a minute.........wasn't that the reasoning behind keeping Jill at Level 5 and dumping me!? It is sunny and predicted to be clear and warm (45 degrees F) so I will focus on that and leave this mess behind me for now. Maybe I can bring in my friend Alisha as the other Level 4 coach. She has subbed before and is great with the the girls. The more I think or write about gymnastics, the more upset I get. This is just awful because for over 30 years it has been the center of my life and a very enjoyable part at that. I think I need to distance myself from it and really just consider it "work" simply to get through the next few months. It is really a shame because I do feel that great "fire" again each time I go into the gym and get some success with the girls. It is almost more difficult to be cold and uncaring then it is to be sad and upset. I'll end on a happy note with photos of the two biggest kitties. First is Twinsy, the neighbor cat. Here he is on top of the cabinets on the porch. He doesn' know how to pose very well and is always walking right up to the camera lens.

Then there is big Coal, taking up most of the rocking chair. He is such a loving cat and enjoys posing for photos.

I Must Have Them!!!

The new Prairie Schooler designs are out and they are just lovely.

"Old MacDonald"

"Weather Wise"

"Daffodils"

"Farmers' Almanac"

I really must have them all! I like them so much better then the others that have come out in the past few years. Those seemed a bit "stiff" somehow. It is hard to explain, but the past series were not as nice as these are. I can't decide which one I like best, but "Weather Wise" reminds me of Maine, doesn't it Barbara?"

Hopefully I will have the finish of "Blackbird Sampler"later today and then move on to my next UFO on the pile. I am also in the midst of making 120 Italian meatballs in preparation for next Saturdays' party. I really want to start some Spring projects and I also must come up with a 10th Birthday Present for my niece, Julia. Her birthday is 6 March and I still have to mail it to New Jersey. I'm afraid to say it but I think she will get money this year. Her tastes are so "pre-teen" that I hardly know what to get her. I haven't gotten a comment back on the fashion doll I sent her for Christmas. I was planning on sending her new clothes for that doll but that may be "old news" by now in the life of a 10 year-old. I am sure something Hannah Montana would do, but I live under a rock and know nothing about this person. My little gymnasts just laugh at me because I am so ignorant of the current trends.

The kitchen floor is also calling my name and it is screaming "I am filthy, please clean me!"