Old Schoolmarm, That's Me

Yep, that's how I'm feeling today ... like an old, old schoolmarm. It's the end of the work day, and I can't leave school without telling you the kid story of the week. I was with a first-grade group, and Aden was reading to us. I excused myself to jump up and grab a kleenex because I sneezed and my nose started to run (so attractive). Erin asks, "Oh, do you have a cold?" Without missing a beat, Aden answers, "Nah, she's just old." Does it get any better than that? My ego will never be out of control as long as I have first-graders to keep me in my rightful place.

Now the weekend begins! I'm off to have a very adult beverage and a pedicure. Even an old schoolmarm can have fancy toenails.

And They Sinned and Sinned and Sinned

Before I get started on ATS, I need to answer a question for Jennifer (no blog), who is interested in acquiring the Lo How a Rose chart. Jennifer, go to Staci's blog and try the link she gives on this post. If that doesn't help, please get my email from my profile and send me a note. We'll discuss.

Last night at the folks' house was not just a birthday dinner (with absolutely fabulous red enchiladas and tacos made by Mom), but a true ATS fest. My mom, sister and I all had our samplers in tow so we could examine and compare. First, here's a progress pic for my ATS:

The instructions (I love this design, but I'd really love to edit those instructions) say to use two colors of green and work diagonally to fill in the grass. The diagonal idea just wasn't working for me, so I knew I would fill horizontally. Then I tried the GAST Green Apple, loved it, tried the Shutter Green (I think), and watched parts of the motifs fade into the background. Out came the Shutter Green! So I'm ending up with my sister's choice ... Green Apple it will be. Below is a close-up so you can see what it looks like.

After dinner, we cleared off the big dining table and laid out the samplers. I think I got a pretty good pic, but I'm not sure it's clickable. So sorry if it isn't.

Mom's (Estelle) is on the left (and she started it last Thanksgiving!), Sharri's is in the middle, and mine is on the right. Mom and I are both using lambswool linen, hers in 36-count and mine in 40-count. Sharri's is on an unknown 36-count R&R fabric (which tells you how long ago she bought it). I hadn't realized how much smaller mine is until we had them all together. I love that 40-count fabric. We're all using GAST, and the color differences are really interesting. Even the men in the house were talking about the color differences!

By the way, watching the men (aged 18 to 75) was hilarious. We girls were completely excited, but they didn't get it at all. They looked and tried to appreciate, but they think this stitching thing is just so silly. Go figure ... they like guns. In a rather disgusted voice, my dad said, "It'll probably cost $500 to frame all of those." None of us dared to mention that it'll almost certainly be more than that. Shhhh ... what he doesn't know won't hurt him.

I took a closer picture of Sharri's so you could see the last section. I really wanna catch up. Why? There's no hurry, except that I have a long, long list of can't-wait-to-stitch projects calling my name. And it's not a race, except that I really wanna finish first (not a chance in hell). Mom will probably finish before either one of us. She's not known as Super Stitcher for nothing. So that's the ATS tour. Hope you've enjoyed it. Of course, I'll get a picture when they're all finished so you can celebrate with us. Now I'm off to work on Lo How a Rose because I didn't get to last night. And then tomorrow's Friday!

Good Advice for a "Foblem"

You bloggy girls rock! I got so many sweet compliments and good ideas that I needed to let you know how much I appreciate you all (insert big wet kiss here). Annemarie had the perfect solution to my "foblem" (fob problem that wasn't much of a problem, but this is obsessive stitching, after all). Her suggestion is to use the big fob as a pin cushion and make another smaller one for a scissor weight, making a matching set. How smart! To that end, I made a little call to the Needle in a Haystack girls (love those girls) who are putting a little piece of WDW Seafoam (because the fabric makes the fob) into the mail for me tomorrow. How easy was that?

Because I have the "O" word (obsession for those of you with other things on your minds) and because of the BBD girls (who we all adore), I started searching for crushed walnut shells to stuff my new pin cushion and fob. When I googled said product, I found Sharon's blog, on which I learned all I needed to know about buying bird litter in seven-pound (weight, not sterling) bags. Even though I had an idea about what seven pounds of something would look like, it was still rather shocking, so here's a pic of Merlin (my little old man cat who refused to cooperate as I took his picture ... maybe next time you'll see his face) next to the bag.

Like Sharon, I now have what could be a 20-year supply of pin cushion and fob filler. Since I won't be asking a bird to join Merlin and me at home, I reckon we'll have to get busy producing cute little things that require crushed walnut shell filling. I think I just gave myself permission to acquire more stash! Did you like how I quickly justified future stitching expenditures? Please feel free to use that method at home.

Finally, thanks to Deb who sent me some new friends. It's always fun to meet and visit new bloggy buds.

Tomorrow night we're having a double birthday (sis and nephew) family dinner (yay, Mom), which just might provide a multiple ATS photo op. I'll do my best to get pics. Until then, make some fun!

The "O" Word

I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. It's not "O" for orgasm (although I could go on about that for a length of time), and (as I've already gone on about in recent posts) it's not "O" for odor. It's the "O" in OCD ... obsessive.

I got a wild hair at about 10 o'clock last night and decided to start something quick and cute, Shepherd Bush's 2009 fob. I'd been stitching on ATS, of course, and I wanted just a little bitty break. Here's a pic of my progress and a few of my pretties, so you can see that I'm a small fob (scissor weight, to me) girl. This cute SB fob is gonna be way too big for my usual stuffed-with-rice kind of fob. I'd already planned to try crushed walnut shells for a filler this time, but at the size this is turning out (ok, I figured out how big the design size was, but I was in denial), it's still gonna be heavy. I like some weight to my scissor weights, but this would be a little too much. I've been resisting the obsessive urge to pull out all the stitching and start over ... over one. Don't get me wrong ... I love Tina's and Teri's designs. I just don't like 30-count over two. So, after several large cleansing breaths, I've decided just to look at it for a day or two and then decide what to do. I'm gonna do a few little over-one practice stitches on the fabric, just to see how they look. It would be really cute over one, and leaving half an inch or so all around the design, I'd end up with about a two-inch square fob. Can you say obsessive? I knew you could! I'll keep you posted, but you can tell that I'm dying to unstitch it, can't you?

On a saner note, here's my progress on Lo How a Rose. I stitched a little on Thursday night and a tiny bit on Friday, because it felt like I was on roll. All letters again! It's kinda fun to think about getting all of the letters done and then having a free-for-all with the flowers.

While ranting about odors the other day, I completely forgot to tell you how much fun I had with my sister Wednesday night. We laughed at everything (it's what we do) for a couple of hours, saw a few old friends, avoided being asked to dance by a man who kept lurking threateningly by our table, and made fun of the pub clientele. That probably sounds mean, but we make the most fun of each other and ourselves, so it's fair.

Back to school tomorrow as the Sprink Break countdown begins ... four weeks to go, which include CSAP testing (a rant always on the tip of my tongue) and parent-teacher conference week, which is brutal. I love time off!

Odors, Etc.

Thank you to my health helpers out there. Because of your comments, I decided that I'm not crazy (in my nose, anyway) and I emailed my doctor. We'll see what he has to say about my stinky nose.

I have to tell you how the stinky nose thing started. Let me preface my little tale by assuring you that I'm not trying to be mean or ultra-judgmental toward anyone. What I am is shocked and appalled about a student's situation.

Over the last three years that I've worked at my morning school (I drive from one school to another at noon), we've had a student who has often smelled absolutely horrible (words can't describe it). It got so bad a couple of weeks ago that every room she was in smelled horrible also. Parents and students who were at school for the science fair were asking, "What is that smell?" This poor nine-year-old girl comes with four other kids to a small reading group in my room, and at times all of us (including me) have had to find ways to cover our noses and/or scoot inconspicuously away from her. The kids in her class have started making faces and ostracizing her. (The counselor has stepped in with some tolerance education for the other students.)

Teachers and the counselor at our school have spoken to the student (over four years) about the benefits of bathing and wearing clean clothing, generally to no avail. The principal has also had conversations with the student and her mother (many times) about the problem, again with little relief. In fact, the mother refuses to take any responsibility for making sure her daughter is bathed and that her clothes are laundered. She's too busy. As a mom who probably over-bathed her kids, I find this entire situation unbelievable. All I can do is imagine what their house must be like (but not for long). And how could you ignore the fact that your child is filthy? What is wrong with this mother??? (And some info: We've been informed that Social Services isn't interested in grooming. They will step in if the child is in danger due to neglect or abuse.)

So, back to the stinky nose (sighing and stepping off of soapbox, but I could step back on at any moment) ... I thought that the smell in my nose was the smell of my student that I couldn't stop thinking about. In short, I thought that I was imagining the smell in my nose. Then I thought that I was smelling myself.

This isn't the first time that I've thought I was imagining something that was wrong with me. In fact, I try for quite a while to talk myself out of whatever is ailing me. I know other women who do the same thing. I'm not sure what this means, but it makes me think too much. Do we just hate being sick? Do we hesitate to bother a doctor with our complaints? Do we hate to spend the time and money to have a complaint investigated? Do we hate to spend the time being sick? For me, it's yes to all of those things. I wanna feel fabulous all the time, and I'm pretty sure that I can play a large part in making that happen by talking myself into feeling good and/or talking myself out of feeling bad (this does not work with shingles).

Sorry this has turned into a rambling blah-blah-blog. I'm truly distressed by the fact that so many kids are handicapped or enabled or just plain ignored by their parents. This has been just one story. There are many, many others. Tomorrow I'll find something happy to say about stitching.

Too Much Fun

Well, kids, I have so little stitch-type stuff to report because I've been involved in having some fun (gasp). I know! I'm one of those people who think that, to quote Commander Cody, "You can't never have too much fun!" In my warped and twisted brain, almost everything can be fun, but sometimes it takes a little effort. And then there are the times that require much effort. But I digress.

I was busy most of the long weekend dog-sitting and hanging around with the man I hang around with, so that was pretty fun. Nothing terribly exciting, mind you, but I did purchase two fancy carbon monoxide alarms (woop tee doo) and priced a new, very quiet, garage door opener (yawn). Don't you hate to spend hundreds of dollars on things you can't stitch? Having fun while buying a garage door opener will be a situation that requires some work to enjoy. I'm thinking about that so I'll be ready when it actually happens.

Speaking of hundreds of dollars, the bills have started arriving for my unviewable-because-it's-on-the-inside nose remodeling of about a month ago. Who knew that becoming headache-free would cost so much? Truly a surprise to someone who has so successfully avoided surgery for decades. And here's a strange problem: I've been smelling a bad smell almost constantly for about a week. I usually have a great sense of smell (which can be a handicap when sitting next to a person of the pungent variety), but I can't rid myself of this odd, yucky smell. Just to let you know that I've covered all the angles, I've asked people I know and trust to smell me to see if it's me. It's not, and they would tell me if was. Could it be my upper lip? The inside of my newly remodeled nose? I have no idea! So anyone out there who has some advanced degree in odors and their origins, please fill me in.

Finally, I'll be stitching on Lo How a Rose tomorrow night instead of tonight. I've decided to have a little fun with my sister instead! Yes, kids, I'm going to leave my house on a school night and go listen to some friends play music and maybe enjoy an adult-type beverage (another gasp). I know! It's rather shocking! Wonder if anyone I know will still recognize me. I think I'm gonna have to chant on the way there, "It's good to get out ... It's good to get out ... "

Lo How a Rose - Week 4: Letters Only

As you can see, it was letters only that were stitched in LHAR ... with no boo boos ... or none that I've found yet. Since it worked so well, I may have to continue with letters for another day and then have a flowers-only stitch day. Whew! Thank goodness there's a plan in place for the next two weeks! ;)

I'll bet I don't even have to report that I'm back in Eden, in the last section of ATS. I've been discussing the filling-in of the grass with my sister, and I think I have myself settled on what I'd like to try. Siobhan also told me what she did, and I've seen a couple of other finished pieces online. If you have some experience with that last section you wanna share, please feel free.

It's one of those cold, cloudy, breezy Saturdays. Since it's Valentine's Day, I'm baking the man I hang around with an apple-blackberry pie. We're gonna have some tasty chile, cornbread (of course) and some of that too-yummy-for-words pie with ice cream. It'll be nice to sit in front of the fireplace on a cold night and maybe watch a movie ... or not.

Thank you to everyone who leaves kind comments. They're fun to read, informative and much appreciated.

Happy Valentine's Day