Sunday, October 26, 2008

I Have Moved.........

...........to a Wordpress blog. Thanks to the kind advice of Barbara, I am trying Wordpress instead as my blog host. I am tired of trying and trying to post photos here without results.
You can find me now at Ohio Is My Dwelling Place. It is a very plain site right now as I try to figure out the new set-up and icons. I hope to make it a bit more colorful and interesting very soon. I will leave this blog up for a while so that everyone can find me. Yes, I just had to try one more time to post a photo here and guess what.......it didn't work. So it is off to Wordpress to jazz up my new "home" a bit. See you there.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Random Acts of Kindness

I was RAK'd twice last week. I have been so caught up in my troubles over posting photos(or lack there-of) that I totally forgot to acknowledge the two wonderful people who sent me gifts....Edgar and Diane. Although I call these random they were more like "Purposeful" Acts of Kindness. Diane had read my comment on another blog about not being able to find the Just Cross-Stitch 2008 ornament issue any where and she graciously sent me an extra copy she had. Edgar read about my "weakness" here for Royalty Magazine and he has generously offered to send me his copies when he's through with them (yes, I did get the first shipment!). Two wishes granted in one week thanks to two wonderful people.
Dare I try to post a photo today?............................


Arghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Hmmm, Maybe A Photo Or Two?

As I get closer to my milestone 100th post, I'm getting more and more frustrated over not being able to post photos. I have cleaned out all sorts of files, adjusted and re-adjusted various settings and still nothing. I have tons of stuff to share. Photos of stitching, pumpkin caving, costume making, frolicking pets. I try, day after day and always the repetitive page pops up "Upload Photos". Yes, YES I want to upload photos! Then why won't Blogger do that for me?
This morning I found three kittens by the road side. They were on the end of our street, but very near the busy highway cross-roads. One was pale orange-striped, another dark gray with golden markings and the third, the smallest one, was all black. I very much wanted to keep them, but I knew that would upset the delicate balance of pets we already have. Sammy would accept them immediately, but I was afraid both Coal and Elliot would chase them into the road. I couldn't bear to take them to the local animal shelter. Although it is a wonderful place that does a lot of good, it is not a no-kill shelter. If the kittens were not adopted after a certain amount of time they would be euthanized. So I took them to my Vet. She always has several animals roaming around the place, waiting to be adopted. She was pretty full-up on cats but agreed to take them for one month. At least for that amount of time I know they are safe and well cared for. After that, if they are not adopted, I must decide whether to take them to a shelter, a pet store or back home with me. I know what I will choose if it comes down to that, but I really can't have any more cats inside. With Alix being so old I think 3 new little guys would upset her very much. In a month it would be too cold to introduce three little indoor cats to the cold outdoors of our barn. Mocha does fine year-round outside, but she has always lived in the barn or on the porch. I will still sleep well tonight knowing the little kitties are away from the road and away from the awful person who dumped them there. It is just so painful to think that no one wants them. I will get to see them again tomorrow when I take Bud, Elliot and Sammy in for their annual shots. I will take a few photos of them...but of course you will never see them here!

Monday, October 20, 2008

OK, Now I'm Really Getting Mad!

Where are my !@^#&*%$%$ photos. Day after day I try to post them here and day after day the stupid little screen pops back to "post photos" after I have spent innumerable times pressing the UPLOAD NOW button. Should I try again? Maybe a nice shot of me flipping off the computer? Better yet, I'll shut off this blasted machine and go and stitch.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

This Is Only A Test.

Blogger has been giving me a hard time lately when it comes to posting photos. Or maybe it is just my odd, old computer. Something about Java and Cookies. Sounds more like a morning coffee break to me then some computer problem. Lets see if I've gotten past this tasty little glitch....







..............apparently not. Anyone else using Blogger got a clue as to what I'm doing wrong?

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Suzie

My heart goes out to my friend Nicole in Belgium who lost her beloved cat Suzie on Thursday.

I very much wanted to post a photo of Suzie here, and have been trying for two days............

Friday, October 10, 2008

WIPs, Wishes and Weaknesses

A few stitchy items in the works. Actually this little Owl from La D Da is done and in his sparkly black wreath. I think he will live at home here with me rather then go away as a gift. There is something about stitched animals that attaches me to them, as if they are real animals. I am still working along on the French Sampler too.The Halloween decorating at my friend Sharee's is also a WIP. Here is the porch, made up after last years' magazine cover of "Mary Englebreit's Home Companion". (Picture is very dark, but I love how the sky looks!)Doll clothes are always a WIP and I need to complete some more for the 18" dolls for a craft fair at the gym 13 December. I still dream about making more 1900 outfits for the 16" dolls though. The last WIP is a little turkey quilt patch I pieced together years ago.I found him in a box of holiday decorations last week. What he's doing in there I have no idea. He is part of a larger seasonal quilt by "Country Threads". That series of books is similar to the "Needl' Love" books I am crazy about. But now I am drifting into the Wishes category..................
As for wishes; the usual ones apply.....health, happiness, peace, financial security. On a more tangible scale:
1. I wish I wrote more letters. I used to be an avid letter-writer, but a combination of soaring postal rates and the Internet have really curtailed my writing. I have over a dozen "pen-pals". I suppose there is a more adult word then pen-pal, but I have called them that since childhood. Infact, one of these "pals" has been around for over 25 years. I have been writing to my friend Gudula in Germany since we were both young, aspiring gymnasts in our early teens.
2. I wish I could focus more. I find I set out to do one task and as I walk to that particular area of the house or yard I am suddenly taken up by another task and then another and then nothing seems to get completely done.
3. I wish I saw more movies. I made a list the other night of the movies I have actual seen as first-run features in the movie theater. There were 9. Yes, nine in my entire lifetime! I think that is part of the focusing wish. I just can't sit still in a theater for several hours and not be able to stitch or clean or cook or perform some other useful task. Here is a list of the movies I have seen:
Star Wars ( yes, the original in about 1976)
Strawberry Fields (or something like that. A drippy little movie with Peter Frampton redoing Beetles tunes. My cousin and I were just wild over Peter Frampton in those days, about 1978)
Mad Max (yuck, not my style at all. But it was the style of the boy I had a crush on in 1981)
One of the Bond/007 flicks (about 1984, again more crush-oriented then a topic I was really interested in.)
Some horrible South American torture movie (again motivated by a boy. Around 1987 and I closed my eyes through most of this one, hence the lack of a proper title.)
Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993.(Liked this one, except for the fact that I went with my neighbor and her three screaming kids)
Somersby, about 1993(again with the same neighbor and her screaming kids)
Jurassic Park about 1994(went with my mom and dad of all people! My mom wanted to see it because she taught 3rd Grade and wanted to be up on the current trends. My dad went to see it because it was a $1 matinee!)
Ace Venture Pet Detective about 1995 ( with my husband,just for laughs)
Movies I wish I could see: The Duchess, The Notebook, The Queen, Brideshead Revisited....are you seeing a trend here? Movies I saw on TV loved: Enchanted April, Out of Africa, Forrest Gump, Cold Mountain, The Piano. Those last two sort of creeped me out a bit, but I still like them.
Under the category of weaknesses: Of course I don't include chocolate,cheese, fabrics, threads, cats of any shape or form. Magazines is #1. The more expensive and hard to find the better! My latest two cravings are "Majesty" and "Haute Doll". Both totally useless (no patterns or charts) and dreadfully over-priced. Another weakness is dolls. I just can't seem to get enough of them. I have nearly all of my childhood dolls, including two 11.5" Dollikins that my mother bought for me in 1973. Here are two more beauties I would love to have. They are "The Devereaux Sisters" form the Robert Tonner Doll Company. They are 16.5" tall fashionistas from 1920's Paris. They are $70 each so they will remain just a wish for now.
I suppose I should add the category of "Weirdness", since this entire post is rather odd. But that is the course my brain is taking today. Oh well, it's Friday and I have the entire weekend to get back to reality before Monday rolls around again.