Ramblings.....

Went to lunch with a friend today. First time I've been out to lunch with a friend in a long time. Who knew it was so expensive! $21.00 for lunch! I enjoy being with this friend, so it was worth it! Altho a part of my mind goes to how many cross-stitch charts or books I could have bought with that money! Does that make me a horrible person? Don't answer - LOL! No, seriously, it was well worth it and more....

While out shopping, I stopped at Sur La Table. I love that place! I only had about five minutes to spend in there before meeting my friend. I need to go back soon and just spend as much time as I want - looking at all the interesting gadgets, books, and other fun things they have in there!

My parents arrive from Ohio on Friday. I'm furiously trying to get all my cleaning done..... My Dad always says - don't worry about cleaning. Uh, I tell him - so you are fine with sleeping in a bed with unclean sheets and using an uncleaned bathroom..... Uh, he says.... nope.... Thus, I have to do some cleaning. I wish the cleaning fairy would stop by. But, I gave up waiting on her a long long time ago!

My Dad loves to go to the malls... he already has a trip planned to one on Saturday.... My Mom hates to go to the malls. But he drags her along anyway! I am okay with the malls - just can't deal with all the crowds of people. But for some reason, everyone else enjoys going to the malls too. I've tried to figure out a way to get them all to stay home when I'm there, but so far, it hasn't worked out that way!

I've been stitching away - for a year or two now. But I still haven't finished anything! Well, I finished some things - but they were gifts or models for my friend who has a cross-stitch designing business. I've also finished a couple of small things that I framed myself (not very well). But they are at least "in a frame"..... I'm coming close to finishing one piece that I've been working on for many many MANY years. So I'm getting excited about that. I have this dream of a "wall of samplers"... but until the stitching and finishing fairy comes to visit me, that isn't going to happen any time soon. I think she is off somewhere with the cleaning fairy!

Earthquakes and Hurricanes - oh my!

Tuesday, I was at the library with my husband. He came with me to do my volunteer hours. Before I started that, I went to the biography section to get a book I wanted and all of a sudden, there was a low rumbling coming from the roof area. I thought it was a low flying plane. Then it got louder and people started jumping up to leave. Then the metal shelves started rattling. I was looking around and asking my husband - what is it! what is it!! Someone standing there (before he ran out) said earthquake! Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought that was what it was. I thought it was a plane coming to crash into the building. Luckily we were all okay, altho there was damage to many buildings around our area and of course, at the epicenter, which is about 70 miles from us I think.

Then tons of rain and wind yesterday with Hurricane Irene blowing her way through. We were very fortunate to just get some milder aspects of it around us - not sure how other cities in our area faired. We lost power for about 3 hours. Today the sun is shining, the sky is blue - the wind is gently blowing - it is gorgeous out there - cooler, the way I like it. My prayers and thoughts go out to all of those who lost property and who are, I'm sure, still without power. I am also keeping in my prayers, the families, who lost loved ones during the storm.....

10 Magpies in a Pie....

Or... Birds of a Feather's "Counting Magpies".... Not sure how tasty magpies would be in a pie! If you ever try it (that is saying you can find a magpie), let me know how it goes! I've changed all the DMC conversions in this chart, except for the black #310. I feel one of my few "gifts" in life is being able to match up DMC colors to sampler threads. After collecting tons of sampler threads of various brands, I found I really don't care to stitch with them! But they still come in handy when I do my own versions of "converting". Sometimes I will like the conversions the designer has done - other times I find ones that I care for more. In this design (which I'm so happy to finally be stitching - I've had it forever) - I am using:

instead of DMC 3729 for Pecan - I'm using 434

instead of DMC 648 for Tin Roof - I'm using 3023

instead of DMC 3826 for Terra Cotta - I'm using 918

I love the way it is turning out!

MRI's and Baby Crows....

What do they have to do with each other - well nothing really - LOL! But the baby crow softly cawing and then loudly squawking as it waits for his/her Mommie to feed it some crackers, is keeping my mind off the MRI I'm having today - in about an hour. This baby crow (I think there are actually two) has been entertaining me for weeks now. I am constantly throwing out crackers and bread for the Mom to feed them. I'm sure they would find food elsewhere, but I worry... so I keep putting it out for them.

I use the term "baby" lightly - as the baby is almost as big as the Mom!

I'm going to have an MRI on my lower back to see what is causing the problems in my left leg (for almost a year now).... I'm hoping it is just a pinched nerve and they can fix it easily! I'm claustrophobic, so the thought of going into that closed up tube is not making this lady happy! I have some Xanax that they gave me and I just popped one. Hopefully it will calm me down and help me not to freak out and squawk for MY Mommy! LOL!