Seeing More Clearly

Well, I finally broke down and "stimulated the economy" a bit. I bought a new digital camera. Nothing fancy, just another Kodak "Easy-Share". The C300 that my mom and dad surrendered to me last Summer was finally starting to wear down. All photos further then a few inches from the subject were turning out blurry and dark. So I upgraded today to the Kodak C613 in a pretty shade of pink. Only $89.00 at Wal-Mart. I had been eyeing those Nikons and Canons for $200+ with all those fancy lenses and exotic features, but in reality they are way beyond my technical abilities. This new little one suits me just fine. It has tons of features and surely many more that I will discover once I sit still and actually read the booklet that came with it. Here are my latest snaps.

Joe with Alix sitting on our dirty old porch, hiding from the rain. Alix had another seizure last night about 5am, but once again she spent about an hour hiding under the bed and then bounced right back to her usual self. I am amazed(and also very grateful) at how resilient she is. She seemed a bit sluggish today, but then she is usually back to normal in a day or two. This was the first major seizure she has had since the first one in late October. It seems her "attacks" of various types are coming more frequently. Then just as quickly she recovers and is running around, jumping into paper bags, eating treats and behaving like a young and healthy cat again. I think I am more at peace with the situation now, being able to accept that she has had a long and happy life and that these problems are caused by her old age. I must accept it. Death, after all, is part of Life. To accept this has made me enjoy my time with Alix more and to allow her to enjoy herself also.

This is the finish of three of the Prairie Schooler "Winter Wind" ornaments. I have displayed them on the background fabric. It has touches of silver in it and so does the cording. I am very pleased with how these came out and even more pleased with the clarity of the photo.

Here's a shot of my computer area where all these profound words are put to the blog-page. And the final shot is of my sewing machine, second only in creative energy to my cross-stitching chair on the opposite side of the room.

NOTE: This post was created on Thursday 15 May, but due to "technical difficulties" will be published on Friday 16 May.

In The Light Of Day

Everything seems a bit brighter and more hopeful in the light of day. So what if it is pouring rain and there really isn't much 'light' out there today. I am feeling lighter of mind (I wish it was of body also!) today now that I look at the work situation. It is the sport that I love and somehow I will get past the pettiness and survive. I always do. It seems the more I step up and try to confront issues the more it backfires on me. Maybe the "human doormat" thing just works for me and I should stick with that. At least then I am well-liked and reduce the outside stress...even though the inside stress is always there.

I nice early morning trip to Meijers solved our on-going telephone problem. It would ring, but as soon as I picked up the handset it would beep and disconnect. The answering machine works and so does the Internet connection, but no in-coming or out-going calls that actually involved speaking to anyone. My apologies to Jean who left me a very kind and sweet phone message. I was standing right there listening to you, but I knew if I picked up the phone we would be disconnected immediately. The wierd looking little battery pack has been replaced in the headset so we are back in the 21st Century. Some of you know that I would prefer to live without the phone though. Internet yes, phone no. I was never one of those 'chatty phone girls' even in my high-school days and I am still not much of a phone gal. I just do not express myself well in speaking ( i.e. the meetings with my boss!). I much prefer to write so the Internet/e-mail suit me well. I am an avid letter writer, although some of my pen-pals would disagree profoundly with that lately. If I can just stop thinking about the gym then all things will fall into place, the planets will align and I will finish 4 Christmas ornaments, my Quaker Animal Exchange and write some long-overdue letters and e-mails. Does making four ornaments in three days make up for not finishing an ornament per month like I had vowed to do, or is that cheating? I have nearly completed the four from Prairie Schoolers "Winter Wind" I even picked out backing fabric and some nice trim from my stash of supplies. I felt good about that since the New Year's Resolution of not buying any new craft/sewing/hobby items has completely crumbled. Hobby Lobby is conveniently located across the street from Meijers so I just couldn't resist this morning. I replaced some DMCs that I was out of (I love having all the colors on hand just in case of an emergency) and bought a new "pin tomato". My original tomato is nearly 30 years old and starting to shred. The saw dust is falling out and I've lost a lot of pins into the disintegrating fabric. I will save it though, as Joe loving printed out his name in pins over ten years ago and I just don't have the heart to pull them all out. I bought a few supplies for the finishing of the Quaker Animal Exchange. After several weeks of debate I think I have finally settled on the finishing method, but of course it must remain a secret for a while longer. I also cracked under the immense pressure of on-line browsing and bought some Dinky Dyes and a much-needed Weeks Dye Works 'Mulberry" thread from Laurel's Stitchery. I ran out of a Carrie's Creations thread called "Glory", an amazing red, white and blue blend that I just love. Laurel was out of that one so I went to Stitching Bits and Bobs and found that along with a couple other little threads to make it worth the shipping cost. The red, white and blue are for a rather odd-looking animal. Since he will not be used for the Quaker Animal Exchange I can post a photo of the WIP. Not a very traditional Quaker is it!? In case you don't recognize him, he is the Workbasket "Quaker Cow"

I have used up my entire stash of double-sided quilted fabrics by making some more project bags. It is amazing how much space I can free up by using these fabrics.

A few pet snaps. Alix and Coal. It seems the digital camera is on it's way out. It will only take extreme close-ups. If anyone knows more about digitals then I do maybe they can help me with this problem. I have replaced the batteries and the memory card with no improvement. You can see it in the photo of the project bags. The bag closest to the camera is clear but the others are blurry. I have become so addicted to the digital I don't think I could go back to waiting for photos to come back from the camera shop before sharing them on-line. By the way, it took almost 2 hours to write this and upload all the photos. Dial-up is driving me crazy!

Is It Really Only Tuesday???

A bad week, and it's only Tuesday. It actually started to get bad on Friday night when we had the end-of-the-season coach's meeting at the gym. This is when we decide which gymnasts are ready to move up to the next competition level. Of course Jill did not agree at all with any of those I felt should not move up from our Level 4 group. Then I was totally shut out of any of the decisions regarding Level 5 because, obviously, I had been totally shut out of coaching that group since December. It ended up that there will be 15 to 17 girls at Level 5 next year...a group large enough to merit two coaches again. So did I get the big invite back to the 'inner circle'.....NOOOOOOOOO! Instead my boss brings up some volunteer lady whose daughter has just made it into the Level 4 Group. She's a nice lady and a good teacher, but what the heck is going on here? Of course, in my usual milk-toast manner, I said nothing about my shock and hurt feelings over this apparent snub and the meeting moved right along. It bugged me all weekend and I vowed I would go right into the boss's office Monday afternoon before practice and say something. After all, I had said something in October when the Level 5 group was suddenly split between me and Jill cutting my hours, and the again in January when she gave the group over entirely to Jill and I lost even more hours. Well, Peggy didn't come in at all on Monday so I had to fester another day. I finally got around to talking to her this morning. Once again she belittled the entire situation saying that she really hadn't thought about the group being big enough for two coaches (can anyone do the math of the difference between 8 gymnasts and 17 gymnasts!?!?!) and that she was considering the volunteer lady for Level 4 not Level 5. OK, I was not the only one who thought she meant Level 5. Alisha thought so too and we discussed it in the parking lot after the meeting. As for me going back to coach Level 5 it seems that Jill thinks we don't work well together. Of course not...............she is perfectly happy alone and hasn't worked with me in over 5 months. She has also given the boss the impression that we don't work well together and that's why I haven't been given the golden invitation back to Level 5. It is so frustrating. Jill has made an art form out of getting her own way regardless of who gets stomped on in the process. I coached Level 5 for 6 years and suddenly I don't work well with other people? Peggy mentioned that she had to have a meeting with Jill and Dennis because she complained about his coaching too. Hey wait....see a trend forming here? Jill is always complaining about other people so maybe she is the problem?

I need to escape into the beautful world of the past. I share some photos with you now that always take me away from the not-so-good present into a world of style, charm and dignity.

Danish Royal Family in the mid 1870's: Alexandra Princess of Wales, King George of Greece, Princess Thyra, Crown Princess Louise( wife of Prince Frederick), Crown Prince Frederick, Dagmar(Empress Marie of Russia)

Princesses Victoria and Maud of Great Britian 1893

Grand Duchess Serge, nee Princess Ella of Hesse 1880sFormer Princesses of Denmark, Marie Empress of Russia and Alexandra Princess of Wales 1878. Another set of sisters dressed alike!Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, nee Alix of Hesse 1896.

Happy Mother's Day

The Mother of all Mothers, Queen Victoria!

To all of you out there who are moms (or pet moms!) Happy Mother's Day! Here is of shot of me and my mom in 1971. Those were the days; so carefree. This week has been anything but. My Uncle Andy passed away on Tuesday after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 81. My dad's eldest brother and also my godfather. We all knew it was coming, but the sadness is none the less. He is the first one of that generation to pass on. I have always considered my grandparents and their generation the "Old Ones", but they are nearly all gone now....only two siblings of my grandmother left on my father's side. Now my mom and dad's generation are becoming the old ones and that's pretty hard to take. I look at this photo of me and my mom and it's as if time has stood still at that exact moment...and sometimes I wish it had.

Project Bags

Things have been a little "off" here lately, but I'll go into all that in another post. I just want to clear up an error on my part regarding the project bag I made. I found the idea through Stephanie's blog. The original bag was a gift to her from a woman she calls Mama Joan. Here is the original photo from Stephanie's post. As you can see I altered the design a little, since I didn't have that cool-looking mesh fabric used to make the original bag. I also made mine longer to accomadate a magazine or chart. I've been just wild about making these lately and even went out to JoAnn Fabrics and got three more double-sided quilted fabrics to make some more. The price at JoAnn's is $17.99/yard.....YIKES.........but each bag uses only 3/8 yard and one 12" zipper. I found this tan fabric in Wal-Mart for $11.99/yard and I'm sure Hobby Lobby offers some different styles/colors too, but I haven't gotten there yet. The so-called "Economic Stimulus" check arrived....... for half the amount that I thought it would be. Was I mistaken or wasn't it supposed to be married filing jointly got $1,200? Oh well, half is better then nothing at all and what did I really expect from the government anyway but another rip-off/fake-out!? So the all-out wild shopping spree I had planned will not take place. The check will just about cover another loan payment and that's about it.

Stuck

I'm glad I didn't dedicate this blog to my cross-stitch efforts, since there has not been much work to show lately. Spend a lot of time on little Quaker motifs and the Workbasket Quaker Animals, but since they may be part of an exchange I can't post any photos. So there has been some stitching going on...really there has. I saw a very interesting item on another blog. I think I got there through Anna, but I can't seem to retrace my steps now. Anyway, it is a 'project bag'. A large zipper bag that can fit a magazine or chart, fabrics and threads. Even scissors I suppose, since they always seem to poke through the nasty zippy plastic bags I use. Yes, the plastic bags are cheap and convenient, but I found out while stitching outside that if you set them down in the sun they gather a lovely amount of moisture that turns photocopied charts into a watery blur. Then all the ink gets on your fabric!! So here is my effort at a project bag. It is 12 inches by 15 inches. I chose the size to coordinate with the only large zipper I had hanging around, but I think 12 inches is a good size. I want to make some matching accessories to go with it, like a scissor case and a floss tag. I got a wonderful selection of Quaker charts from the lovely Nicole from Belgium yesterday. A huge "THANK YOU" to her. She always makes my stitching wishes come true. There is a huge red Quaker Sampler from Long Dog that has a perfect rose motif that I can stitch with blue on yellow fabric to match this bag. Then there is a stash of lovely coordinated kitty material that I had set aside for a baby quilt (the child is 10 years old now!) that I will try to make up into another bag tonight. I see the Christmas list being filled up already!!

The rest of my time is spent in the garden. The weather has been lovely....a true Spring with moderate temperatures in the day (65-75F) and cool nights. Ohio weather is so odd. Sometimes we go right from snow and wind to boiling hot without much of a Spring. That is terrible for my garden. I think this year I will have a bumper-crop of veggies. The "Jubilee" yellow tomatoes went in yesterday along with the basil. The little striped Roma tomatoes that I started from seed are still too small. I am still waiting on the lemon cucumbers, eggplant and spaghetti squash seeds to sprout. The sweet banana peppers go in this evening after work. I have to limit myself on what I plant. We have plenty of space, but I want to make sure everything gets eaten. Since Joe is not a big veg eater I pick out my favorites and plant those. The 'left-overs' get traded with the neighbors for items that I didn't plant, like potatoes, watermelons and pumpkins.

A few pet snaps today. Alix in the wheelbarrow, her favorite hang-out. She can roll in the warm dust and leaves without the indignity of getting herself wet in the yard. Here is another shot of the new guy...I really do hope he has another home; it is getting pretty crowded around here. For that reason I have not assigned a name to him.............yet.

Here's my little $2 yard sale find. It is hard to see the lovely engraved pattern in these scissors. I am sure they are nothing too valuable, but I couldn't pass them up.

A "Froggy" Day

It is rather warm and very rainy, so that could make it a good day for frogs. But in this case it is a bad day for my Alina Kozich cross-stitch. I started it too late at night and while I was having anxiety attack #504 over Alix's health, so what else could I expect. I have been moving right along on it, but now I see I am about two stitches off in the body section (black) and since I plodded right along, oblivious to this fact, now it is a bigger mess then ever. The body proportions have to be exact for it to look at all like a real person and being off by two stitches will really distort this. I think I can fake my way through on the left leg, but now I am at the neck area and it is too narrow. She is in great danger of her head tipping off because she has a spindly little neck! I can start entirely from the beginning, since the fabrics and threads are rather 'common' stuff...14 count tan Aida and DMCs...nothing anything rare or expensive. I think she will get pack away for a while until I can figure out what I want to do. Here's what the old girl looks like so far. It is a shame that I got so far along before I realized the mistake.

I have accomplished quite a bit this week, but not much in the way of cross-stitch. I have finished two Quaker Animals by The Workbasket, but they need to remain anonymous until I complete the Animal Exchange. I am working on a third one now since I am absolutely in love with these critters. They are fun to work and I have been experimenting with different threads for a not-so-traditional Quaker look. I also fixed one of my favorite windchimes. I hadn't heard the sound of it in over ten years as the clapper had fallen off and it would take a near tornado to get the heavy bronze-like chimes to move and make a noise. Not the most classy of fixes (a tuna can lid!) and I plan to remedy that with a nice faux bronze clapper made of polymer clay very soon.

Alix is doing very well. She seems to go through stages of seeming weak and frail and then bounces back to her old self. She was stalking a bird yesterday...without success though. Here is the most recent photo of her. I think this is the kitty equivalent of giving me "the finger" for following her around all the time and constantly taking photos of her.

Well, it looks like the town-wide yard sale is going to be a washout. That was going to be my cheap 'retail therapy' to keep me out of the craft/fabric shop.

Hmm, this isn't Coal or Sammy. This little guy showed up about three days ago. He is well-fed and very friendly, so I think he is someones pet. Actually, I hope he is. I would never turn a cat away, but there are so many of them now and they are starting to aggravate each other. There are three male cats in the area...Twinsy the neighbor cat, a large striped guy with white face and feet, and now this little black guy. They are all 'un-fixed' and howl at night and battle with each other. It drives Bud crazy and keeps me awake. I go out three or four times a night to break them up and send them in their proper direction. Our Sammy seems to stay away from the fights, but Coal likes to jump right in there and mix it up.