I've had good intentions. Each day this week, I thought about sitting down to post something, but each day has been so busy. My mom is in the hospital, which is such an extreme surprise to all of us that we hardly know what to do. She hasn't felt well for about a month, and when she went to the doctor, they treated her for an infection. Almost a week later, when she went back, they found some more disturbing things. So poor Mom is in the hospital and we've been entertaining her. In fact, it's hard to say which is worse for her ... being in the hospital or the entertainment we've provided. My brother came into town on Friday, so all three of us have been hanging out with Mom and Dad. I'll update you in a few days, when all of the info is gathered. All I ask is that you bring on all of your good thoughts or prayers or anything else you can muster.

On a happier note, here's a picture from Mom's Day of the three family ATS's. You'll notice that Sharri's finished sampler is in the middle, Mom's is on the left, and mine is on the right. At this point, I could be the next to finish, but now that Mom's sick, I almost feel bad about finishing before her. I know the picture quality is bad, but these pics were taken in Mom and Dad's dark den.

I'm not sure if these are clickable. When I first started blogging, all of my pics were clickable, but lately they haven't been. I can't figure out what I'm doing differently. It would help, probably, if I read the manual that came with my camera, but I have other things I'd rather do. If you have advice for the technologically challenged, bring it on. In the picture below, I tried to get a little closer so you could see Sharri's. As we were laying these out, we started noticing all of the things she forgot to stitch. A flower here, some backstitching there, a missed stitch in another place or two. Sharri is the less left-brained sister. She moves around all over the fabric when she stitches, but I tend to move more methodically through a piece. It's not that I love to stitch that way. It's my fear that I'll be unstitching and restitching several areas because I can't count. Maybe Sharri's more of a risk-taker. Or a better counter.

That's about it for today. I'm gonna allow myself a little time on the deck and then I'm off to the hospital for a while. Only one more week with my sweet little friends at school! Then we teachers pack for two days after Memorial Day (a closing school requires much packing), and it's all over but the shouting. Make some fun.

Let Me Out!

Help! My calendar has trapped me in a vicious vortex of end-of-school events! I'm a prisoner of my schedule! I've missed you all terribly. This morning has been filled with a very little housework and as much blog-reading as I could manage. I decided that I'd better get a post done, or someone will be sending out a search party. While reading, I had some big fat computer issues. I couldn't see the text part of Simone's blog (so I'm missing out on that giveaway), and then another blog I was visiting started that crazy open-as-many-windows-to-this-blog-as-possible thing. What's that about? Is it Blogger? Is it Explorer? Is it operator error?

My morning school, Lewis Ames Elementary in Littleton, Colorado, is closing this year. We are all so sad to leave each other and go to different schools that we've been denying the future. I was rudely roused from my own denial this week when I learned that I've been sentenced to the darkness of hell next year. The administrators of the program I work for are sending me to the only school I've ever truly abhorred (it's the adults, not the students). The deciders (love that Bush-ism) at that school (and don't forget the administrators at the top) make decisions based upon a lack of literacy experience and a belief that a program (rather than excellent teaching) can save their school. Or maybe it's the Magic 8 Ball in the principal's desk! Anyway, I'm in for a summer-long attitude adjustment. I'll have to stitch even more to work out my demons therapeutically and visualize myself doing my best job ever. I think I can, I think I can ...

Ames is having an open house this week, and I'm on the committee planning it. We've been making, baking and painting dough ornaments to give away (pictures to come later), so I've been a busy girl. Our school was treated to a wonderful field trip to Coors Field (home of the Colorado Rockies) this week for a wild event. If you're interested in seeing part of the excitement that exhausted teachers and students (some kindergarteners passed out on the bus ride home), you can look here.

How about a stitchy pic? If you recall from who-knows-how-long-ago, this was what Eden looked like ...
Today, Eden looks like this ...

Hey, there's a little progress. I like seeing both pictures together like that. I started filling in the pond area with some "ripples" from the fishing line. We'll see how that goes. Of course, the swans are gonna need their own "ripples", so making them all work together oughta keep my mind working. I'm not sure where these creative moments (read: wild ideas) come from, but what the hell! Can it hurt to give it a try? Only the unstitching hurts, right?

On another And They Sinned note, my sister finished her journey through Eden (enormous gasp)!! I know! Isn't that exciting? Sharri is now wondering which bank to rob in order to frame it. Hopefully, I'll get a picture for you tomorrow when we go visit Mom.

I'm off to ... 1) enjoy the fabulous sun on the deck, 2) make and bake some more ornaments, 3) remove the hideous debris of the week in my house, 4) savor a Diet Coke with lemon. Two weeks left until I'm set free to roam the golf course and stitch until my elbow hurts.

Happy Mother's Day, all of you moms out there. Make some fun.

Of Thanks, Frames and Sisters

All of you sweet stitchy bloggers deserve another giant THANK YOU for all of your kind and thoughtful messages this week. I so appreciate your understanding.

Look what was ready at the framer this week! Yep, it's Lo How a Rose making her framed entrance!

I'm very happy with the way it turned out, and it's now ensconced next to my bed. Lo fits in perfectly.

So now I have to ask you a question. Do any of you, like me, have a knack for choosing the most expensive mouldings? Truly, every time I'm in there to pick out a frame, it's always some hideously expensive moulding, and after seeing it next to my stitching, I can't live without it. I'm somewhat envious of those of you out there who frame your own things. I say somewhat because I don't really wanna do that. I'm stingy with my time, and framing isn't how I wanna spend it. Until I'm retired and have more extra time, I'll keep trying to earn enough money to pay for my framing. I'm still secretly laughing about my dad thinking that my mom and sister and I can frame all three ATS's for $500 (hee, hee, hee). We can never, ever let him know the true total price of all three frames. He'd never recover from the shock.

Wanna hear about a couple of new Sisters? The Sisterhood of the Rose has welcomed two new stitchy buds: Melissa in Vancouver, Canada, and Hazel in England. Exchanging a couple of notes with them has been very fun. Adding these two sweet ladies has put us up to nine members! I'm wondering if one of our members will win Edgar's copy of LHaR. We'll see.

When/if you email me about the Sisterhood (or anything else), it occasionally gets caught in the spam net. If I don't answer right away, I'm not being rude (like usual), I just haven't checked my spam box yet.

Did you see the fabulous prizes that the BBD ladies brought back from France for the lucky winners of their contest? Outstanding items. I want to fondle them. The items, not Alma and Barb. In fact, I'm feeling rather covetous (that feels like a word, but I'm not certain) of those items. But I'm very happy for the winners, and surely they'll enjoy their new treasures.

OK, I'm off to stitch in the purple chair. Wanna know what tomorrow's number is? 3. Yep, three weeks 'til the last day of school. Work has been somewhat drama-filled this week, and I've been less than willing to deal with it. Hopefully, it's just temporary emotional overload, and my serenity will return soon. The end of this school year is bittersweet, as they'll be closing my morning school. I'll save that for another post. Adam and Eve are calling me.

Happy Friday tomorrow ... make some fun.

Little Sampler

Here's my little BBD sampler.

It's stitched over two threads on 40-count linen from my stash that I coffee-dyed and baked (my new favorite pastime). I used three purples: dark is WDW Eggplant, medium is WDW Purple Haze, and light is DMC 452. The little birdie came from BBD's Sarah Tobias.

I'm happy that I jumped on the big bad Blackbird bandwagon last week and stitched this sampler. The opportunity came along at the perfect time, as I explained to Alma and Barb. My youngest child, Rebekah, was born on April 29, 1991, so I immediately thought of stitching this project in her honor. She would have been 18 this Wednesday, but she died in February of 1996. Because this year seems (to me) like a big milestone year, I felt like I should mark it in some way, but I couldn't decide what to do besides the things I do every year. Stitching this little piece provided me with some much-needed stitch therapy.

I think of Bekah many times every single day, as you mothers out there would guess. Since '96, I've worked her initials (they're in the lightest color in the little sampler) into most of the things I've stitched. It's my little way of keeping her in view, I guess.

I hesitated to write about Bekah here, because losing a child is such a profoundly difficult subject to discuss, even after 13 years. And once the subject is open, some discussion has to happen. While we constantly feel her absence in our family, I think we do a pretty good job of continuing to live in a way that would make her happy and proud of us. Living life as victims with bitterness and despair wouldn't honor her or celebrate her life. We all talk about her and have pictures of her everywhere, not because we need reminders, but because we have great memories of her that we want to share.

I could write a book on this subject, but I'll end by saying that losing Bekah has taught me (is still teaching me) an incredible number of lessons I wish I didn't have to learn in this way. My self-appointed job is to learn and live the lessons as gracefully as possible, so that something good can come from something that feels so wrong.

All Better, Etc.

Well, thanks so much for everyone's concern for the little pink-bottomed sheep. I fixed him up by unstitching and then restitching the offending area, and here he is ... all better.

The fabric underneath was also stained pink, but you can't see it now that it's covered up with new floss. Poor little sheep. Merlin and I have made a pact to conduct future medicinal wrestling out of range of any needlework and upholstery. I'm thinking a plastic, claw-proof, zip-up kitty suit would be a perfect idea, but I've never seen one of those. Oh, my first million-dollar idea? A prototype could be in the making. Maybe velcro instead of a zipper, though, since I hate to put in zippers.

Here's this month's Totally Useless SAL picture.

My ort and stitchy trash jar has seen some traffic this week. I trimmed some edges off of a piece or two of fabric. I love holding linen with straight-cut edges. I know what you're thinking, and yes, it's probably my old friend, OCD, rearing its ugly head again. As long as I'm not nagging anyone or forcing perfection on those around me, I suppose it's ok if I obsess about things like fabric edges. I also have quite a few orts from this week's project, the BBD contest sampler that everyone is stitching. I've neglected Eden horribly this week in favor of working on that little sampler, and it's finally finished. I'll wait until later to show it to you.

How about a Sisterhood of the Rose update? We've added two new sisters to the list: Kathleen from El Paso, Texas, and Wanda from Regina, Saskatchewan, both of whom are not bloggers. Jennifer in Canada will be keeping us updated on her progress.

Following what's become my usual Saturday pattern, I'm posting while looking an absolute wreck. I got out of bed and immediately went to work finishing this week's project, then took some pictures and read blogs and emails, so many things have been neglected. I'm off to rectify that situation and prepare for some fun later. The number this week is 4! There's so much to be done at school and only four weeks in which to get it all accomplished. Happy weekend ... make some fun.

What I Did During the Not-So-Big Storm

I haven't told you lately how much I enjoy your comments. I was shocked to see so many today (figuring that weather isn't that exciting), and it's so fun to read them. Thank you all for letting me know you're out there and for making this bloggy stuff too much fun.

Why is bad weather so fun? Because we stay inside and get things accomplished! Here's what I did last night and a little of this morning ...

Yes, it should've been stitched in 2000, but it wasn't. I put 2000 on there because it goes with "years ago". I suppose I could've put "2009 - oops, late again", but it wouldn't fit and it's not exactly a Christmas sentiment. It's the Shepherd's Bush (of course) ornament from the 2000 Just Cross Stitch ornament edition. The bad news is that now I have to finish finish it for the 2009 Christmas Challenge. Please don't make me.

After I finished that cute little ornament, I was putting away some fabrics and things and came across this little scrap that I begged from the LNS when they cut some fabric for me the other day. It had a really ugly splotch on it, and they were just gonna throw it away! So I brought it home and treated it to a little coffee bath and oven sauna, and here's my first piece of coffee dyed (or maybe overdyed because the R&R girls had already taken a whack at it) and baked fabric ...

I know. Someone out there is thinking " big deal" or "whoop-dee-doo" (obviously not a primary teacher, because we're rather easily impressed), but we all have to start somewhere, right? I like it so much that I'm already on the lookout for larger not-quite-loved pieces of fabric from my stash to treat to a spa day in my kitchen. It's the perfect size for my next Christmas ornament (you can hear the wheels turning, can't you?), which I will share next month (the power of positive thinking).

Now for today's ridiculous moment share (or maybe overshare). I told you about poor Merlin, who is doing pretty well, considering. Did I tell you about the semi-violent and terribly messy kitty wrestling matches I've had while forcibly medicating him? Together we've been responsible for multiple pink Amoxicillin spots dripped and splashed on carpets and floors and walls throughout my humble abode. We even managed to sling a spot onto my favorite purple chair (gasp)! I know! That took some scrubbing, let me tell you. Sorry, I'm rambling. As I was gazing upon my almost-constant companion (no, not Merlin, even though he's become velcro kitty), And They Sinned, I noticed (yep, you guessed it) a pink spot (huge sobbing gasp)! I know! It's right there on the spotted sheep's butt!

Thank goodness it's the only spot (that I've found). One of my afternoon tasks will be removing the offending stain (huge pain in the ass, considering that I could be stitching some unstitched area) and replacing it with some clean Straw Bonnet. Medicating cats (even old man cats) can be dangerous to people (no, I haven't photographed my scratches), as well as carpets, upholstery, paint, and (sniff) needlework. Learn from my mistakes, sweet friends.

I'm off now to spend some time on personal grooming (someone's still in their jammies) and laundry. Love ya ... mean it. Make some fun.

Too-late Snow Day

You've heard (or read) me whine about the fact that the Denver area has had very little snow this winter. We've had too much wind, some good golfing days, and some sit-on-the-deck-in-the-sun days, but very little snow. Two weeks ago, we were supposed to get a giant snowstorm. The forecast even provoked a couple of high schools to postpone proms that were supposed to take place the next day (imagine the limo deposit losses, prepaid flowers and tuxes). Well, the weather was cold and a tiny bit snowy, but the big snow missed us by 25 miles.

Yesterday and today, the weather forecasters were at it again. Big snow ... 10 to 20 inches in the Denver area. So we woke up this morning to not much of anything. It rained all night. It snowed a little throughtout the day, but most of it melted or was washed away by rain. None of it stuck to the roads and sidewalks. At 2:10 this afternoon (about an hour before school lets out), it started snowing. Really snowing. Giant flakes fell, making an extra-fluffy layer of very wet snow on the sidewalks and streets. I think it's snowing at a rate of about two inches an hour (no, I'm not exaggerating).

This was my view (the cell phone camera version) on the drive home, once I was off of the busy street that had bumper-to-bumper traffic and cars trying to get going again after stopping on a hill.



This is what it was like by the grocery store and Blockbuster (a girl has to have movies and tonic water for the weekend, after all).

It took me three tries to get out of my afternoon school's neighborhood. It's in a lower area, so all roads out are uphill. Two roads were completely blocked by school buses and cars that couldn't quite negotiate the stop-and-go traffic along with the hills. I cut over to a smaller neighborhood street and could get a run at an uphill street (a Camry requires a little run-up room). Thank goodness I used to live in that area, so I know the streets and shortcuts.

I'm not whining. Really. I'm thrilled to see much-needed moisture soak the dusty eastern part of our state. This snow is the perfect snowball and snowman snow. It'll be several inches of snowball fight waiting to happen. (All I need is a victim. The man I hang around with would kick my ass in a snowball fight.) I just have a couple of questions. Did so many inches have to arrive quite this rapidly? Couldn't it have arrived on Thursday instead of Friday? Do you have any idea how great it is to have a Friday snow day?

So there you have my Friday spring snow adventure. The number is 5. If you've been reading and paying attention, you know what I'm talking about. The last day of school draws near. Happy weekend ... make some fun.