A New Man

It's been a while since I had a new man in my life (not that I'm dissatisfied). This guy is one of those quiet men. In fact, he never says anything, which is a relief. I get to hold him and work on him when I want to, and he has no say in what I do. He dresses a little funny, but he's pretty cute.

The picture makes him look like he has an earring, but it's just one of the spots. He's covered with them. So here's a look at this year's stand-up-Santa I'm working on. I wanted to wait until he had a cute face before I showed him off. I'll be dragging him around with me in my stitching bag during the holidays (hmmm ... gives me ideas for my son and the man I hang around with), and I'll show you more of him as I make some more progress.

Again I'm late in showing my TUSAL jar. I took the picture on the appointed day, but I haven't worked up the energy to do a post until now. It's looking kind of crowded in there.

I've also been working on Shores Block Four, and I was enthralled with the words and black silk. Hmmm ... I wonder what that means. Here's a little picture of how I put that black silk to use.

I thought that if I made a plan, I'd stick to it a little. I have. A little. I worked on this when I was conscious in my purple chair a few evenings last week. There were three evenings during which I didn't complete a single stitch! I've been cleaning and shopping like the rest of you. 'Tis the season, after all. My entire family is gonna be here this week, and a couple of them could possibly decide to stay here instead of being crowded into Mom and Dad's house. I wanted to be ready with clean bathrooms and fresh linens.

We're gonna have a big and very fun Thanksgiving. My brother, sister and I will all be at the folks' with our kids. There will also be a couple of significant others to bring the dinner total to 17. That's a pretty large crowd for us. Since Mom isn't feeling like cooking, she'll be supervising my sister, our sister-in-law and me from her post on the couch. We've helped for uncountable holiday meals, but the cornbread dressing and mmmm-mmmm-good gravy will still need Mom's sensitive taste-testing. My chocolate pies won't be nearly as pretty as Mom's, but I'm going for it anyway. They're the family favorites, even at Thanksgiving, but they'll be joined by a pumpkin and a pecan. We laugh a lot, so the three of us (joined at times by our eight kids who are unfortunate enough to think they're funny ... just like us) will be enjoying each other and the occasional (OK, more than occasional. I'm a bad influence.) kitchen cocktail while we handle the pre- and post-dinner chores.

Mom had a scan yesterday and will be meeting with the doc tomorrow. We're all worried because she's been feeling so poorly. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted. Have a truly fabulous Turkey Day and, above all, make lots of fun.