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I have 2 resolutions for 2009. First is to lose weight. Second is to post more. Here are some pics from Christmas.
My husband laughed so hard when he opened the Scenic Farm still in the package with the extra floss. He thought he had to finish it and didnt bother taking it out of the package. I had to tell him to. He was so surprised it was finished!

Megan loved her Prairie Schooler Santa.

Kimber, Kyle and Josh playing Wii bowling.

Matt and Kimber. Please excuse my husband's feet.

Quaker Snowman

Isn't it adorable! Freebie can be found here

A few more

This is my favorite ornament Ive done all year. I am so proud of myself. It is on linen with some 1 over 1. I really enjoy doing 1 over 1 because it is so tiny and delicate. Hard on my old eyes though!

I made this into an ornament too since I couldn't think of another way to finish it and everything looks good as an ornament.

I won't be going to work today since we got a bad snowstorm and our plow guy has yet to show up and my husband got mandated to stay at work. There is no way I can shovel this much snow. This morning I tried to let the dogs out and the snow had piled up so badly in front of the door as I was pushing the door to open, my hand went through the glass and I cut my wrist and the back of my hand.
I don't think it needs stitches, it didn't bleed much and I put steristrips on it. Now there is really no way I can shovel! Glad I got my presents wrapped and all the CS I am giving as gifts done since I doubt I will be able to stitch for a while. It didn't bleed much, but it throbs now. I checked it over carefully to be sure there is no glass in it. At least I get to spend the day home with Kimber who has no school today :)Of course it had to be my right hand since I am right handed.


And here are some snow pics.

Who wants to come shovel me out?

I'm back!

Sorry I haven't been posting. I have been stiching though. Here are some of the latest projects.
My first redwork project. I did enjoy this even though I hate backstitching.

A couple of Prairie Schooler Santas. These will be Christmas presents.


At Girl Scouts the girls did a Secret Santa exchange. On the bottom it says Girl Scout Troop XXXXX and has her friends name on it. I cropped that part off. She was thrilled with it.

Most importantly Scenic Farm is finished! Sorry about the wrinkles and bad pics. I'm going to wrap it up in the original package with the leftover floss, etc so my husband will think I never finished it. We keep joking about how I've given up on it, etc. I wasn't able to get it framed in time so he will be surprised when he realizes it is done!

Shhhhh don't tell my husband!

The Scenic Farm is finished! He will be getting his only Christmas wish. When/if our new pc ever arrives I will post pics. I won't have time to have it framed though and I told him that long ago so he won't be too disappointed.

I am so glad it's done. I hated every stitch! It is pretty though.

New pc is ordered

Well my husband and Kimber couldn't take having no computer at home so we ordered a new one today. It's another HP. I found the specs from the old one and this one is bigger, stronger, faster than before so hopefully I will love it!

When I tried to pick up the dead one last night he wasn't finished getting the pictures off. He ran out of DVD's! He said "You have over 8 gigs of pictures! I wasn't expecting more than 2 or 3". Umm yeah I like to take pictures lol. He will have it ready for me today.

Bummer

The computer guy just called and it is dead. The hard drive is failing and it can be fixed but it will be pricey. I told him just get the pics and stuff off and we will buy a new one. I really don't want to spend the money right now so I might wait a while to get a new one. We have some old pc's at home that don't run very well, but they do run, so we may use them for a while instead. I've had this one about 5-6 years and it is used constantly by my husband, me and my 7 year old so it's hard to get too upset that it gave out but this is a bad time of the year with Christmas and all the birthdays this month. I guess that's the way it goes. I'm thrilled he is going to recover my pics though. Whew!

Long weekend update.

Sorry I've not posted in a while. I've been frantically trying to finish the Scenic Farm for my husband for Christmas. It is "the only thing he wants for Christmas". I'm almost finished.

Wednesday on my way home from work, I got a chip in the windshield of my new car. That must be come kind of record! It isn't even 4 months old. At least it didn't shatter and it won't have to be fixed because it is so small.

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. We went to my parents. Megan and Josh even joined us this year. Kyle came over after he ate at his other grandparents. Then we all played Apples to Apples. Kimber had so much fun!

On Friday Kimber was playing Wolf Quest on the pc and it kept freezing up so she just shut it down. Well, it won't restart now and we get a nasty error message so it has to go to the repair shop today. I have been so slack about backing up my pictures and now I'm afraid they are lost forever. I sure hope not :( There will not be any progress/finishes pictures until I get the pc back. Right now I'm at work using my pc there.

Saturday one of the kids friends who was more like a father to Josh, died in a car accident. Very sad. Josh is taking it quite hard. Kimber spent the night at my parents with her cousins so I went to the movies and saw Twilight. It is GREAT!I am really fussy about movies, but this was really good and very true to the book which is rare.

On Sunday the refrigerator wasn't running right. About a year ago it did the same thing and we had to have it serviced and parts replaced. The stupid thing is less than 8 years old so I don't think we should keep having all these problems with it. I decided if I had to pay someone to fix it I would just buy a new one instead. Obviously this one has some major issues that keeps making it fail. Suddenly it started running ok, so cross your fingers!

I'm a slacker

I know I have really been neglecting my blog lately. I haven't done much stitching at all because my husband asked me to finish the Scenic Farm one for him for Christmas and I HATE working on it. I feel guilty working on anything else, so I haven't been doing anything at all.

I did manage to get some ornaments sewn up though.

And here are a few of my Christmas fair finds.

My husband and SIL are in NY on a deer hunting trip. I hear they have been quite successful. We have a deal, he can hunt all he wants, but I do NOT want to hear the details, see the animal or pictures. Yucko! I know he enjoys hunting and there are too many deer, but I can't stomach the details. I also don't eat the meat because it grosses me out even though I know it's better for me than store bought meat. I just can't eat Bambi! I understand that it is totally irrational, but that's me. This is the first time Megan and Josh have been apart since they got married in June. They will be home on Friday if not before.

I will try really hard to stitch on something tonight after work.

Gorgeous handmade sweater

I went to a few Christmas and craft fairs today with my ex SIL and her daughter and Kimber. I bought some Christmasy stuff at one and this gorgeous sweater at another. It was only $30 can you belive it? It is soooo soft. I'm sure all of my family will be sick of it because I intend to wear it all the time!

Couple of ornaments

These are both from here I think they are cute. Sorry the top one is blurry. I have done quite a few ornaments this year. The tree will look great!

Prairie Schooler Santa

This is for my Mom for Christmas. Hope she doesn't read this!

Feeling better today

I feel much better today. Yesterday was my first day back after the mess at school, and I had a hard time. Everyone wanted to talk about it, everyone has theories, everyone is upset. I lost it at lunch and started crying and begging them to talk about something different. They were more than willing to, so that was ok. I almost didn't go to lunch because I knew this would happen but I'm glad I did. My "funk" is starting to lift.

Kimber went to talk to the counsellor the school made available and they called to tell me how it went. She said she was doing good, but she was worried about Mom. They explained to her that Moms do worry about kids but they will be ok in a few days. She said on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being they feel their best, she said she is an 8. I guess that's pretty good considering!

They had an assembly at school with the entire school present. I think it was good for them to see all the other kids are doing ok too. They could ask questions, or just small talk. I think that was a great idea.

The "bad guy" as Kimber calls him is in jail. He was indicted yesterday and is being held on $1,000,000.00 bail. He looks so smug in all his pics and his mug shot. He refused to stop smiling for his mug shot even though they told him to. He said something along the effect of "I want them to see me like this." Gawd!

I still haven't gotten my stitching mojo back yet, but food tastes like food again so hopefully that will be my next baby step!

Ornament finishes

Thanks everyone, I truly appreciate your support right now. I am having a really hard time with this. I think I'm doing ok, then it hits me again. Kimber seems to be doing fine, but I'm afraid she's holding her feelings in. We tried to stay busy today, getting groceries, working on finishes, cooking, etc. I can't focus on cross stitch though.

Everything makes me cry. People bad mouthing the school really bothers me. Don't they realize they would never let someone harm those kids intentionally? I know they are scared and reacting too, but it really upsets me.

She goes back to school tomorrow and she is happy about that. I am feeling guilty still for allowing her to enter the school when he was in there. I know it's not rational because noone knew he was there, but I still feel the guilt. I probably always will.

I did get some ornaments finished today and hope to post a pic soon.

Thanks again!

Terror in a small town

We live in a small town in Maine. Nothing really ever happens here. Today, however, it did.

Last week a man was stopped at a routine traffic stop checking for seatbelts. He pulled a gun on an officer and got away. There was a manhunt for him all day the following day and the schools in the district were closed, and the nearby schools were on lockdown. He was never caught.

Today, he went into my daughters school and held the 5th grade class hostage! They locked down the school and got all the other kids out immediately. He had 11 kids for around an hour or more. He had a loaded semiautomatic weapon. Thankfully, he has been taken into custody with no injuries.

My daughter is home safe and sound.

Here is a link to what happened.

Ornament finishes

L&L finish

I am so happy with the way this turned out. I substituted gold braid for the white beads around the edges, and I just love the way it turned out.

Snow Poem

I used DMC 93. Freebie available here courtesy of www.Be-Stitched.blogspot.com

Too funny!

My husband, Todd, takes Kimber to her soccer practice every week. This week he was talking to another man there about hunting (my husband's passion). The other gentleman said, "Well I was planning to go hunting today, but soccer comes first. You know..isn't it great being a Grandfather!" Todd said, "Umm, I'm not a Grandfather, I'm a stepfather".

Todd is a year younger than I am but his gray hair makes him look older. I think it is hysterical!