HAPPY 2010 EVERYBODY!!

I hope 2010 is a year full of health, wealth, & happiness for everyone!

It is 12:02, and I just watched the countdown on TV from Charlotte. I can't believe another year has come & gone.....

Merry Christmas (late) and Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I was on call for work, but thank God I didn't get called out! WoooHooo!!! Christmas day was a quite day, just me and Dean. It felt really wierd, not going to Juanita's (Dean's moms) for lunch and exchanging presents with his family. I miss her alot and Dean seems to be ok, but I know he's hurting....It's hard to believe she's been gone 8 months...

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Christmas Eve we went to my other family. We always get together to eat and exchange gifts. We always have breakfast food so eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, pancakes, bisquits & gravy. I know I am forgetting something! Man was it good!

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The kids got LOTS of presents! There was so much noise! But thats what makes it fun! I got a gift card to HobbyLobby so I can go shopping! Dean got an atomic clock which has the time, date & temperature. If you want a good present for little boys, I found some of the coolest toys, they are called "My first Craftman's"... Sold at Sears, it's plastic toys they can take apart & put back together. I bought one of the boys a V-twin motorcycle engine! It is so cool! Dean kept playing with it till I got it wrapped up! You gotta check them out!

Santa was good to me this year. I got to open some of my presents early on Christmas Eve before we left to go to the family supper. I got a new camera!! WOOOHOOOO I AM SO EXCITED! It's a Sony digital camera and guess what?! My zoom lens from my Minolta will fit on it! I can use all my extra filters too! I AM SO EXCITED! Can you tell I love it?! My Santa did good!! LOL! Now I can put my new scrapbooking software to use!

The kitties are growing like crazy. They even got presents from Santa! They got new mouseys! No more dead mouseys all over the floor with their stuffings pulled out!*
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Needless to say, my stitching has been on the back burner. It always is this time of year.

Next weekend, New Years Day, I'm planning on going to the Stitch & Frame Shop in Rock Hill, SC. They are the best shop around here! They are having a big sale and I'm mainly going to browse and see old friends. Lord knows I don't need anything but when has that ever stopped me? LOL. After that I'm headed down to Chesnee, SC to see Kathy aka The Mad Stitcher. It's the stitching groups Christmas get together. We'll eat, stitch, exchange gifts, hang out, sleep & stitch some more. I am hoping to get my stitching mojo back.... if I don't, it's ok. It'll be a weekend of friends and that's all that matters anyway.

I hope everyone had a Christmas filled with Family and Love and I hope 2010 is better to everyone. May you have Peace, Love & Happiness...

Dragons, Turkey Coma & Christmas

You know, Time is flying by faster and faster and there is no way to slow it down! It's been awhile since I posted but I hve been running at 100 mph, it seems. I just can't seem to get caught up or sometimes I just can't make myself move....Let's see if I can remember all that's been going on here...

On the health front, I have finally stopped coughing! WOOHOO! I have finished 5 sessions of speach therapy and hopefully have stopped holding my breath when I talk. I still have to take the Kapidex and occasionally Tums when I eat if I feel like I am going to cough. I think I still might have to got to a gastroenterologist but we'll see...

The weekend of the 13th. I went on a stitching retreat to Myrtle Beach, SC. This was the 11th year for this. Meg Thompson Shinall is our teacher. we have been doing a series of the moons... the Nov moon is called a hunter's moon so to keep things fun, our class project had a dragon on it. We also had a play that told the story of St. George & the dragon.... your's truely was the dragon! I need to see if anyone got a good picture of me in my dragon costume! We also went to Medieval Times, http://medievaltimes.com , and watched the show & had dinner. It was really fun and the food was pretty darn good too! The knights were soooo good looking, men in chain mail tights, wow! We had a great time and I might actually get this project finished!

Thanksgiving was our first holiday without Dean's mom. It was really wierd because we didn't see any of his family. He did talk to his brother & sister. Thanksgiving day I put a turkey breast in the crock pot for dinner but we went to a good friend of mine's house for lunch. Such good food! Chris & Chandle are real good cooks....... On the Sunday after T-day we went to Nancy & Gordon's for the family get-together. I think there was 15 of us! we had the 4 F's .... Food, Friends, Family & Football! WOW that was 2 days of turkey and the coma that comes from eating too much! LOL

I haven't picked up my needle since we got back from the beach so I can't really show any progress reports. I have been lusting after some digital scrapbooking software and finally broke down and bought it. I was so excited that I was going to get to play with it and my hard drive dies in my laptop! Can you see me banging my head against the wall? I was, I really was & still have the head ache to prove it! I had to replace the hard drive and download all the software and I MIGHT get to play with it tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed!

I have gotten almost all of my Christmas shopping done. I had plans on finishing it when I had to pay for computer repairs, but I should be done by the 15th.... I hope. You know, it's really hard when family says "Let's just buy for the kids", well that's all and good, but dang we have 15 kids under the age of 15!!!!! YES I said 15 .... and 13 of them are 11 & under.... so do the math if I spend $15-$20 apiece..... OUCH!!

I am sorry this post is pictureless... I promise to post some pics soon. I have some awesome ones from Medieval times I want to show you, but I figured I would actually blog so you would know I am alive & breathing..LOL

I better run, have to work tomorrow and its already 1230 in the morning. Good night everybody, take care...

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I knew I forgot something!! I wanted to show you the cross stich that Bunny, a friend of mine, just completed! I don't know who this is by, but I love it! WOW!!

Bunny, you go girl! Congratulations on an awesome piece!

pink hair, skeletons, & scrapping

Well, lets see... I haven't posted in about 2 weeks. That seems to be my standard here lately. I have been working ALOT, but what's new there, huh? I really don't have anything to blog about on the stitching front but...I do have some fun things to tell you about .... lets talk Halloween...

Halloween, I Love Halloween! I kinda dress up, usually put a skeleton on my front door, and when I can, I put out some decorations in the house. 2 out of 3 ain't bad! LOL. I want to show you some pictures of Angie as Marge Simpson. She was making her "wig" in one of my last posts. She is so creative and BRAVE too! LOL

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Now I had to work on Halloween. Alot of the facilities that I go to was letting their employees dress up on Friday to. Sooo I had to dress up on Friday too! My hubby had been joking around with me for awhile about dying my hair pink, so I did it! It was a neon pink hairspray! SO my pink hair, my glow in the dark skeleton shirt and some funky makeup and I was ready to go to work! I got some unusual comments, but my 2 favorites were... "Your shirt is perfect!!" after all I do xrays & look at bones all day.... the other one, kinda surprised and it really has me thinking... I had ALOT of people tell me how much they liked that shade of color on my hair and how good it looked! OMG!! I had a good time on Friday......got home from work & had to wash my shirt to wear on Saturday!

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I had to work on Halloween so I was going to dress up again... well I had used up all the pink spray! I did have enought to make my bangs pink... So pink bangs, alittle make up and my shirt and I was ready to go. I really don't think anyone thought I was dressed up!

I ended up having to go to High Point and it was raining, but on my way back down to Charlotte, I took this pic. I wish it could do justice to the beauty but it can't! It was so pretty to see the sunbeams!

I didn't get home till late, so I didn't get to see any trick or treaters, but then again, we haven't had any for years.. All the kids around here have grown up... That's ok I get all the candy!!! LOLOLOL

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*Novemeber came in like a whirlwind and it hasn't slowed down any!! Last weekend I got to scrapping!! I sooo want to do scrap books. I have a picture addiction! I have a closet full of pictures that I have taken! Yes I meant to say a closet! I used to do photography on the side so I have lots of those pictures and I always take some where ever we go. So I have a ton!

I used to work with Marnie at MobileX and one day she was telling me about the scrapbooking group she is with... They were having a crop and she invited me, and hasn't been able to get rid of me since! LOL!! So I am a member of the Carolina Scrappers ..
http://www.carolinascrappers.com/index.html

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We have been staying at Camp Bethelwoods in York, SC. We rent one of their new cabins and have a cropping weekend! It's usually the only time I get to scrap. It's alot of fun and the company is always great too!

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We don't have kids but I have tons of kids in the family to be my subjects. I have been doing alot of pages of my neice who will be 7 in January. Time flies..... Anyway, I am seriously thinking about getting some digital scrapbooking software. Alot of my newer pics are on my computer, and this way I wouldn't have to print them out, but I could still do the tradional scrapping of my older pictures... We'll see.

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I do have good news on the medical front. I have almost STOPPED coughing!! WOOOHOOO!!! I went back to the Dr and they put me on Kapidex in the morning and 2 prilosec at night and it seems to be taking care of it. I can still do a few tums if I start coughing right after I eat... They are hoping I won't need anything but the Kapidex in a few more weeks, so keep your fingers crossed!! I have been going to the speech therapist and one of my bad habits is that I hold my breath when I talk so that puts more stress on my vocal cords which in turn, made me cough more... so I am relearning how to talk and I can tell a difference in the way I sound.. It's really been wierd. Hopefully, I won't have but 1 or 2 more sessions with her and I will be done with that!

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I have a great weekend planned..... if I can make it 2 more days! I will be going down to Myrtle Beach with a group of cross-stitchers and I can not wait! Meg Thompson Shinall is going to be our teacher. This is the 11th year for this as we have been doing the full moons of the year... This year is the Hunter's Moon... I heard a rumor that the design is going to have a dragon! I will let you know!

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Wow, it's late and I do have to work tomorrow, so I will close for now. Take care!

Found another give-away!

Just check out this blog! She's doing the 13 days of Halloween and her prizes are great! I don't know how Missy Ann gets all her goodies stitched! WOW!

http://www.deepinsidemissy.com/?p=783&cpage=1#comment-12914

WOW! What an adventure!!

WOW Time really flies, doesn't it? It's been a while since I posted. I kept telling myself that I would do it, and then I'd get side tracked, and now its been 2 weeks! So lets see if I can let you know what's been happening ......





This is my hubby Dean. He got some new glasses and here they are. Kinda retro, if you ask me. Very different from his old style, but they have grown on me and now I like them.






We went to the Cleveland Co Fair in Shelby, NC. We try to go every year. We don't ride the rides, we just walk around looking at the exhibits, eating the food, and watching people... Really pretty fun! I always have to get atleast 1 red candy apple to bring home. I LOVE them!


For some reason, the night we went, the farris wheel wasn't running. This thing is HUGE! It has to be about 80 feet tall or more. The lights on it were pretty cool!

You know I have to include a kitty update. Here they are! The kittens are getting so big! When they jump off the bed, you would swear they weighted about 75 lbs because of all the noise they make! They still turn into Earnhardt in the middle of the night and make laps thru the house! I thought they would grow out of it, but no such luck!

I participated in a HalloFall exchange on the San-Man Originals BB. LaDawn was my partner, so she sent to me, and I sent to her this time.

She sent me 4 napkins that she had made with pumpkin fabric and some needles and a pumpkin spice candle, a Barbara Anna Snowman chart, and a stitched ornament. I think it is a design from the Praire Schooler, but I could be mistaken. I will have to ask her! I love it!!
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I was having a problem with what I wanted to send to her, because I kept changing my mind! Here is the pic of the Lizzy Kate, Welcome Fall. It was my first attempt at making a no sew cube. After I put this thing all together, it would not, WOULD NOT, stand up, it kept falling over! So I had to put legs on it...

I also had originally started an unpublished piece from The Mad Stitcher, Kathy Bonham, http://madstitcher.blogspot.com/ and also http://themadstitchercompany.blogspot.com/ .

I stitched what I thought was going to be a needle book, but I read the directions wrong and it ended up being TINY!! So I put her name in the middle and did the Nun's Stitch around the edge and attached it to a pillow to make a pin cushion. I restitched the needlebook and when I went to stitch the inside motif, I realized I had miscounted and didn't have enough blocks going around it, so I had to modify the motif to make it fit! I took a small piece of material and did the nun's stitch around it for the inside of the needle book. So LaDawn got 3 stitched pieces from me for this exchange along with some super soft orange socks, and 2 potholders and a fall kitchen towel... Hope she likes hers as much as I like mine!

On the health front..... I am STILL coughing! I have upped my Prilosec and its helped some, but not enough to suit me and I go tomorrow for speech therapy. Hopefully they can help me use my voice with out straining my voice box. We'll see, they might not can do anything for me but the ENT wanted me to try it, so.....I go back to the ENT and also the Asthma Dr on Nov 2 so I am counting down. I may end up having to go to a gastroenterologist and have an endoscopy done, but we'll see about that then. No use worrying about it now...

As some of y'all may know, Oct 23, is my Birthday. I am 37 yrs old. Most days I don't feel it, and I sure don't act it either! My good buddy Kathy's birthday is Nov 2. We decided to have a little get together to celebrate our birthdays together at her house. This is the motley crew better known as the Stitching Sisters...

Kathy... in blue from Chesnee, SC

Bunny...in pink from Richmond, VA

Angie.... in green from Spartanburg, SC

Tracy .... in white from Stanley, NC

Kiki ....... in beige from Matthews, NC

and me, who took this pic from Mt.Holly, NC..

Now for this get together, we had a special visitor. You can see her here in the black shirt. Her name is Vilma Becklin and she designs for Examplars From The Heart. She is from Greenville, SC.

She knew it was Kathy's birthday and so she volunteered to bring a cake to our get together! Such a nice thing to do!

Here's a picture of it. It was sooooooooo good! She picked it up at a backery in Greenville & said it was baked that morning! OMG! It was so good and the icing was so creamy! ... Can you tell it was good?! It wasn't too sweet, it was just right! MMMMM

Here is my birthday goodies! As you can tell, I like Halloween and purple! SO all my goodies were just perfect for me! Vilma even brought me a present! She gave me Tracy's Cat Samplar and a pair of black Kemscott scissors! I love cats and I definately have a scissor fetish! LOL, so this was right on target! I also got some designs from Sampler Cove! You should see them! WOW! Now to find time to do them!

This is a towel tree that Angie put together for a bridal shower she was going to on Sunday! It was so cool to watch this thing come together! I think the bride will like it, if she doesn't, I'll take it! You can take it apart and actually use the towels that its made out of...... Neat present in my book!

Angie

Tracy

Kiki

Angie was trying to put her Halloween constume together. She is going as Marge Simpson. So she decided to make a "hat" out of cardboard, and glue cotton balls all over it, then it's going to be painted blue! I really wish I had thought to get a picture with it on her head when she started gluing the cottonballs to it. It was pretty funny!!

Angie for some reason, likes to sit in the floor and spread out! She is a stitcher, but had other projects to work on for this get together.

Bunny... she was working on this cat face, and I wish you could see it. It's awesome!

Here's Vilma.... acting goofy.. I think she'll fit right in with us. She's as crazy as we are! She was so funny!

Here's a few randome shots of us, see I do stitch and here's a picture that can prove it! LOL! Wait, I am feeding my face in the other one! Don't look!

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If I disappear, it's becuase I posted these pictures and some one has tied me up with floss and give me to the Halloween monsters! Please try to find me! LOL

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These last 2 pictures, Kathy took of me. I really don't have many pictures of myself becuase I am usually on the wrong side of the camera, But I like taking pictures, more than I like being in pictures! Atleast now you know what I look like, right?! LOL

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I better go, it's late and I have Dr appts to go to in the morning! YeeeHaw! Take care of yourself!