Thursday, January 31, 2019

Friday Funnies







Here I Am

A few people have been asking if I'm okay. I'm more than okay, I'm just great! I appreciate that some people get concerned if haven't blogged in awhile and check up on me. Sometimes, (I know---hard to believe) I just don't have anything to say. Probably closer to the truth is that I've been busy, busy, busy!!

My BFF was sick ALL last week---really sick---couldn't get out of bed because she had the worse flu sick even though she had the flu shot! That forced me to stay home. I spent the week cleaning out my scrapbook room. OMGosh y'all! I have so much stuff I'm getting rid of. I'm going on a scrapbook retreat at the Kinderhook Lodge in Barry, Illinois next week. I'm hauling it all with me and not bringing any of it back home!

When it comes to organizing, I always say, it gets worse before it gets better! That is so true.
 Remember a couple weeks ago, I went from this mess to:
 This!
And this. Well, now it's back to....
This! I'll be home all day today too, so this will be finally cleaned up!

I've accomplished so much. I'm just about finished in my clothes closet, I reorganized all of my stitching supplies, put together a couple kits for AYM and wrote the handouts, organized photos, got my next stitching project set up and actually got to do some stitching.

I finished a good book---The Address by Fiona Davis---really good. I love when things come together in an unexpected way. But to top it off, the book I had read the week before (Sold on a Monday---another good one) made a reference to Nellie Bly who I had never heard of before. She was a newspaper reporter in the 1910's. She went undercover in a mental institution on Blackwell Island off Manhattan (now called Roosevelt Island) to expose the inhumane treatment of the inmates. No sooner did I learn about her, than I saw a commercial for a Lifetime movie called "Escaping the Madhouse: the Nellie Bly Story." Of course I had to watch it---with Judith Light and Christina Ricci. It was good too. Then, while reading The Address, the main character winds up on Blackwell Island in the insane asylum. So, in the course of two weeks, there were these three coincidences about something I had never known about before. I just love that!! I went straight to the internet to find out more. Now, I consider myself an expert on Nellie Bly and Blackwell Island. Go ahead, ask me anything!!

I watched too many alarming documentaries about food, diet, cancer and big business. They were shocking and depressing. Basically, everything you eat, wear, breathe and the water you drink is going to keep you fat and will eventually cause cancer and every health problem you can imagine. There's really not much you can do. Did I say depressing? Add to that the current state of political affairs, terror threats, insane criminals, "me too"---well, I'll just continue to clean out my house! Call it burying my head amidst the chaos of stuff my kids don't want!!

So, that's what I've been up to. What about you?


Saturday, January 26, 2019

Stitching on Saturday

Before I begin this post, I wanted to take a second to tell you about something you might not know. There is a little search box at the top of this page on the left. It's there so you can find something quickly. So, if you want to see my posts about showtunes, or books, or stitching, or Friday Funnies, you can just put that in the search box and only those posts will pop up. Same goes for recipes. You can put the name of the recipe or even an ingredient in the recipe and they will pop up. This will save time so you don't have to wade through all of my family crap!! Just sayin'...

On to today's post. I spent hours and hours this week re-organizing my needlepoint fibers. I like doing  it, but when you don't continually keep up with it, it's not surprising how quickly it goes awry!!

I have organized my fibers in various ways over the course of 45 years. This is my favorite.
 I have them all sorted by color on separate rings. This works best for me.
 Some people prefer to organize by manufacturer. This way, if I need something blue, I can go straight to it without having to go through each manufacturer. There are hundreds---really, hundreds of different fibers here.
This is my next project. I've had the canvases for about two years now. I'm pretty good about starting and finishing one thing at a time. It stresses me out to have too many projects started and nothing completed.
I will be finishing the Easter Train like I did the Christmas trains---pillows.  I don't have the room for more sit around stuff.
 Anyway, I got the engine all ready to go. Now, to pull the fibers. OMGosh y'all!
Of the 54 items I need, I only had 8! EIGHT!!! How is that even possible with the hundreds that I own? Even Butch couldn't believe it!!

Off to Nashville Needleworks to get what I need.
OMGosh y'all! These were so cute!! I couldn't get a really good picture as they were high up. Still, you can see the detail. Although I was slightly distracted by these, I was singleminded in my purpose today.
I got everything I need for the Easter Train. When Butch saw these, he questioned whether I was really going to be able to live within my social security budget! All I've got to say is "it's a good thing I have to take a minimum distribution from my inherited IRA. Thanks mom!!"
 This cute little cross stitch and beaded piece is a needle holder.
 I made them about 20 years ago for all of my friends. I always have the right size needles for my projects. Of course---needles are cheap!

I'm anxious to get started since I've set a goal to the train completed by the time I have my May workshop. That's one car per month---totally doable.
 I just had to post the May project again. I admired it once more when I was in the shop yesterday.
It is so gorgeous--and big--it'll take awhile. And then I still have this coming up:
This one I'll be stitching with my sil---Chris. Looking forward to that too.

Now you see why I need to get a move on. So much stitching, so little time!!

If you are ever in the area, you need to stop by Nashville Needleworks. It is simply the best needlework shop I've ever been in!
I've mentioned before that all of my girls are stitchers too---even the grands. They don't stitch much---more like spurts here and there. But still. Mindy sent me this picture last weekend. She was up at 5 a.m. and stitching. Like mother like daughter---and I'm sure that's tea she's drinking! Fait accompli!

I handed Butch this picture and asked if he noticed anything. He didn't see it. Do you? A 30A cup in the background! Now we know what happened to our cup! Things disappear all the time. Mindy swears that this is hers. Yeah, right! (Actually it is---ours is in the cabinet---Butch looked!) 

Okay, my final word on stitching is: if you need a fun hobby (albeit---a little pricey), needlepoint is just the thing for many reasons:
1. It's a total stress reliever.
2. It gives you an excuse to watch movies.
3. AND---best of all---this is STUFF your kids will WANT!! Guaranteed!

This post was written at 4 a.m.. I love to get up early so I can stitch!!

Thursday, January 24, 2019

This and That Thursday

 I recently visited someone in the hospital and noticed her wrist bands.
I had never seen anything like this. I think the "limb alert" has something to do with her surgery. But, it was the "fall risk" band I was most interested in!! I asked her if I could have it---since it was meant for me!! The nurse overheard me.
She gave me a brand new one!!! (Side note: I really am going to wear it)!

And then there's this:

 I signed up for a needlepoint workshop in May. I couldn't resist. This thing is gorgeous!
Look at the close up detail! It's loaded with beads and sparkly things. (Side note: remember my resolve to live off of my social security this year? Good thing I have until May to "save up")!

I've been on an organizing roll this week.
I cleaned out all of my photo albums.
These are about 1000 photos that I'm getting rid of. I know this because these photo boxes hold 1000 photos. I have two of them. (Side note: Remember I keep preaching how our kids don't want our stuff? They don't want photos either! Unbeknownst to them, I have a plan. The next time we're all together, I'm going to sit them down at the dining room table and start passing them around. Whatever is left that they truly don't want, I'll toss when it's over).
Remember this sign I saw in England? I didn't know what that word meant as I had never seen it before. My British friend, Diane told me that it means "custom." Since then, I've run across the word many times in books---I have a love of books about England or set in England.
 (Side note: the word served me well in my computer game! Woohooo! 104 points!).


Wednesday, January 23, 2019

What I Buy Wednesdays

I went for my second shingles shot this past week. While heading back to the clinic inside CVS, I passed a Christmas display and noticed that everything was 90% off. Who can pass up a bargain like that? Not me!
Technically, I bought 4 items. Look at the 2 foot long receipt! That's ridiculous! Do they think people actually look at the advertising on it? I don't.
Still---what a bargain!!! 16 gift boxes and 8 rolls of extra long gift wrap for $3.47!! I know where I'll be going next year to stock up for 2020!

On the other hand, I stopped at the grocery store to just pick up 5 things. Here's what I came home with!
I broke the cardinal grocery shopping rule: Don't go to the store hungry!!!

I did make a couple internet purchases which I'll share when they come in.

Monday, January 21, 2019

Tuesday Thoughts About...

Snow---or more specifically, driving in snow.

We had our big snow on Sunday.

Yep, this was it! We usually get one or two like this. Occasionally, we'll get a bit more, but not very often. Believe it or not, this is cause for a run on the grocery store. Of course our weathermen rarely get it right. Today, it was literally just about nothing.

The roads were absolutely perfect. We left for Mass at 8:00 a.m. Afterwards, we went to the club for breakfast. We got there about 9:45. The "egg" lady said that we were the first to arrive! What??? She said that most people were afraid to drive in "it!" Seriously?!? I told her the roads were totally fine. She said that they were slick when she was coming to work. Now I'm telling you, there's no way! Unless, she lives somewhere outside of Nashville---those roads were fine!

That got me to thinking. Growing up in St. Louis, we got huge amounts of snow every year. We loved it! We spent a lot of time playing in the snow, having snow ball fights, building snowmen and snow forts and ice skating on the lake. We didn't have neighborhood sidewalks that needed to be shoveled. We had gravel driveways that didn't need to be shoveled. We had little---maybe 10-15 feet sidewalks to our front and back doors that needed to be shoveled, but that didn't take much work. Mostly we just enjoyed it. We loved snow days off school. We didn't get many since we walked to school. Mostly the bus riders got off---or we got off if the boilers weren't working.

Here's the thing. Everyone drove. That's just what you did. You couldn't just stay home. In fact, driving in snow was an important thing to learn. Looking back, I can't really believe that my mother let me take the car out on snow covered streets when I had just gotten my driver's permit. In those days, you just had to have a licensed driver in the car. That licensed driver was my best friend, Reenie. So, yes, two, inexperienced 15 year olds got to drive in snow. The thought was, "how else are they going to learn?"

And we did. Don't get me wrong. We did have some limits. We had to be home before dark, because, well, after dark, you might encounter the dreaded "black ice!" No one knows how to drive on that! There's no learning about it. You just try to avoid it at all costs.

Anyway, as a result of my liberal driver training, I am not afraid to drive in snow. I know how to do it. Forget all that stuff about turning in to a slide. Just take your foot off the gas and go with it---don't try to brake too hard or that will make it worse. The biggest factor is speed. If you just take your time and go slow, you'll be fine. And should you slide off the road, just hang in there. Someone will come along and pull you back on. That's never happened to me, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works!

That's what I think about driving in snow!

Monday Mystery

Who does this?
Seriously! Do you say to yourself, "I only want exactly 12 peanuts. There's no way I can eat 8 more!"

There's only two of us here, so that makes it pretty easy to solve this mystery!

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Travel Tuesday

On the way back from the beach last Tuesday, we stopped on the way home.

We stopped at this little town where some local artist started carving in to dead trees in this little park.

 Now it's become a tourist destination.
 We did a drive by of F. Scott and Zelda's home.

 You could tell that this was an upscale part of town---still is. Like most cities, people are renovating these beautiful old homes.
Just a couple doors down from F. Scott's, I saw another sign. I had Butch back up. It was the home of   Helen Keller's sister, Mary---who Helen visited. The home wasn't open to the public so we just read the sign.

After strolling through the park, (we actually did the drive by of F. Scott's first), we stopped for lunch. Since we were in a little town, there weren't many choices. We went to Jack's--which I thought was Jack in the Box. I don't know if it's the same or not. All I know, is that they didn't carry the tacos---which is what I really wanted!

This was another one of those fast food places that had a sitting area with a fireplace and television. I guess they want to seem more like a coffee shop meeting place. That was fine with us as we watched (or, rather, listened to) Judge Judy while we ate lunch.

But this was the most interesting thing in the restaurant. They had regular bathrooms in the back.
This sink was right in the eating area! I've never seen this before. Of course I used it!! It felt a little weird.

That's it for our recent travels.