We had an email from Small Paws and they have a lady who wanted to see Emma's pictures. She has a 2 year old female bichon who needs a friend, so Emma may be leaving us. I didn't realize how attached we are to her. In the two weeks we've had her, she has just become part of the family. Jack and Bob, her two best pals are going to miss her. I hope this is the last time she will have the stress of moving to a new home and possibly learning a new name. What a great dog she is! I only hope she is close by in that she doesn't have to be shipped somewhere. Here is our dear Emma:

August 1, 2010

It's 108º outside so I'm inside. Stepped out to work on the cabinets and stepped right back in. Supposed to be over 100º for the next week; typical August in Texas. We keep trying to remember why we live here.

July 29

So today I took myself up to school to "unsheet" my computers. Somehow there are 6 mice missing and I looked everywhere for them. I don't know...may have gotten the box mixed up with another room's belongings and I'll find it when we start school. The sweet PTA president came up to visit and talk about Fabulous Friday. I, with lots of help from Michele and Ingrid, get presenters about every 6 weeks to come and talk to the kids and have some "workshop". But it is labor intensive and I decided that I didn't want to spend my off days at home calling people. So, I will help organize and get out the sheets to the kids so they can choose what they want to see, but I won't be begging people to come anymore. My gift to my sanity!

We all (the same core 6 of us who always seem to be doing things) went to eat at Wendy's and bitch a bit about the heat, the upcoming camp, and just generally have a grand old time. I've taught with some for 18 years and they have become my dearest friends. It was probably 60º in the school...so much for saving A/C money. I'll go back next week and work on some cleaning and organizing.

More Colorado: I wish I were back there! I finally went through my pictures and found I had changed the setting on the camera so all my pictures of Cripple Creek are blue! I may have to find out how to restore them back to viewable ones.

Here is Hoover Dam at night.

What a sight! The road across the dam isn't open as yet, we've been watching it everytime we drive to Las Vegas. Somehow I'll miss driving over the dam but not the traffic. They did move the trucks off the dam so it is a tad easier. Hard to believe after all these years, one still has to use a 2 lane road from Arizona to Las Vegas. We're planning our next trip! I'd like to go to Reno to dig for gems...yeah, in August, in Nevada; we'll last about 15 minutes.

Sweet Emma is just a doll. I honestly hope no one wants her and we'll add her to the growing herd. She has finally decided we are okay and will jump up in our laps, eat from our hands, and really loves Bob as she plays with him a lot. Jack is still wondering who she is, but he's not the sharpest dog we've ever had. They give us such pleasure!

Michele, Catherine, and I are going to some teacher scrapbooking class from 1-7 tomorrow at our neighborhood Michaels. First, of course, we have to go to SoupRSalad (I love the gingerbread) and then buy some stuff to have for the class. It'll be nice and it's a nice way to visit and play! Sat. is our fish fry with my SIL. Always good. I think I may take brownies and some other desert. I love summertime!!!

July 25, 2010

It's been a nice summer. I'll go backwards from what has gone on. First, we found out Wendy's baby will be a boy! It's incredible to "see" (through the magic of sonos) the baby, waving his little arms, tumbling, and rolling. Wendy and Robert have decided on a cute little Monkey theme for the bedroom so I did this little monkey stitch from San-Man Originals. It was a gift from Sandy who does such fantastic cute designs. I wish I could have them all..... It's not "tucked in" permanently yet but it came out nicely and the tuck matches perfectly.

My knee was scoped on the 15th and except for having to spend the night at the hospital for phlebitis, I'm fine. It will never be perfect, but it's a lot better than it was. I'm not looking to replacing the right knee, but I know it has to be done sometime. Now to find a time to do this.

We are fostering a little bichon that we picked up from Roanoke just yesterday. Her name is "Lucky Emma" but she is Emma to us. Cute as a button, lots of allergies, like the rest of the doggy world this summer, housebroken, but can't go outside without a lease as she is a runner. She's a little bichon and sweet as any dog could be. Again I wonder how someone not only lost this dog, but never checked the shelter to see if she was there. She's just about a year old and someone loved her at one time. But we added her to our brood and they are all like family.

Our vacation was wonderful. We drove up through Amarillo and went to the Cadillac Ranch where we sprayed our names on the Caddies like everyone else. Amazing there were lots of people there, in the wheat field, looking at the cars.

Then on to Albuquerque where we spent the night. The next day we stopped at the Crater in AZ and were pleasantly surprised by the amount of interesting things they had there. We learned lots of things about geology and rocks. We had always wanted to see "the hole" and last year was on our way until John took his nose dive, literally, onto the rocks near Winslow. On the left you can see a small white square that is actually a house. It is immense!

So then onward to Las Vegas. At the Riviera where we stay because it has wonderful beds, the five of us found a virtual Blackjack table with fake dealers and spent a lot of time playing. This became our home base-whenever we would lose someone, we knew where to look. Catherine and Steve convinced me I needed to go to the top of the Stratosphere and go on the rides, so up we went. This is on the ride that spins over the edge of the casino: I'm on the right holding up my hands. It was amazing. It swings out over the Stratosphere and spins 360º. Fantastic view looking down! We also went on the G force ride that pulls you up to the spire and lets you drop. I didn't go on the ride that throws you over the edge of the Stratosphere....I guess it was safe, just didn't look it. We did see some kids slip lining down the side of the building. Not actually bungee jumping and not a parachute, but just dropping off the side. Glad they are so young!

The highlight of the trip had to be going to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop of "Pawn Stars" fame and meeting Chumley. We actually went twice as they were filming the first time and we waited outside for about 40 minutes in 100º heat. The shop was so crowded, people bringing in articles to sell and buying other things. Everyone was very nice and the shop is bigger than we expected. Steve saw the Old Man and his bodyguard and John saw Rick, but the best surprise was Chumley who was neither fat and slobby nor as dumb as he appears. The guy in the back is the
"bouncer". We saw the Coke container that they had restored, a bazooka, the two dummies that "The Old Man" had bought, and the restored juke box. I got a pair of earrings and a signed receipt!

Lots of things to look at and lots of fun to go through. We all bought T shirts, too.

We were going to Colorado to take the Silverton-Durango train ride but we didn't make reservations in time and they were full. We did try to go through Monument Valley in Utah. The road was 17 miles and wasn't gravel.. it was boulders. We all got our cars about 1/4 mile and turned back to take our pictures from the lodge. Neither of us has a car worthy of that kind of abuse. Everytime we passed a "trading post" we had to stop and peruse the Native American wares. Mostly we found native people stringing beads from China but it was great fun.

Steve, Michele, and Catherine opted to go off to Carlsbad Caverns and John and I went to Silverton, Cripple Creek, Ouray, and back home through New Mexico. Cripple Creek was having Donkey Days and the entire town was closed off for a craft fair. We hadn't been there in a couple of years and they have now gutted all the interior walls of all the shops to make a walk-through casino. I won enough for our lunches at a restaurant written up in Guy Fieri's Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives. We had pulled pork which was good. I'm not a real Bar-B-Q fan, but this was tasty. The slaw; however, was not! Colorado is so gorgeous and we stayed one night in Manitou Springs in a lovely motel and in a small town outside of Montrose the other night. This is Ouray, possibly the most beautiful town in Colorado. I wish I had a better picture of the valley with the mountains surrounding it.

Busy week coming up again and school is just around the corner. I've been redoing the cabinets in my kitchen. One month and I got 4 doors and 2 drawers done. Only 12 more to go and 8 drawers....it is going faster now that I have a system! It's the 4 or 5 coats of finishing that makes it take so long.

June 10

So now it's another month gone by. School is out and the weather is already horrendous temperature-wise. We've already gone above 100º and it's been in the upper 90's all week.

I went through all the magazines and kits I got from the lady in Saginaw and freecycled lots of them. It's nice to not have all that mess in the bedroom, but I'm never sure how to organize it all into something I can find later. I still have all that floss to put back into my floss boxes, and then pack the material, buttons, etc. into some sort of system. It was nice going through all the magazines and looking for things I may, well probably not, do. I don't know how you can amass that much stuff.

The garden is lovely, and I am canning tomatoes every other day. Too many but it is nice to sit outside reading and grab a handful of cherry tomatoes to eat! The pot on the left has my lavender. It smells so good! The rest of the herbs are doing poorly but the mint is growing well.

Amber, Wendy's best and longest friend was taken to the hospital this morning with contractions. She is 19 weeks along and they stitched her and she is now, as Wendy says, "hanging upside down" in the hospital bed. I dearly hope she comes through okay as this baby is so very precious to them. She will most likely be on bed rest until they see how she is doing. This is truly in God's hands.

Robert Jr. graduated Tuesday from high school. When will the principals and school board remember that it is THEIR day and not go on and on about themselves? "When I taught science...". It's about the kids folks! The salutatorian's speech was all in idioms and would have been good if we could have heard it. The people behind us just chatted away with no regard for the work that went into the speeches. These are wonderful kids who deserve to have some respect at their ceremony. It was at the Ft. Worth Convention Center so we got to go downtown FW where it is busy and exciting! I love Ft. Worth's community spirit. It's a small city and they are able to have lots of cultural things, a vibrant downtown, the Stockyards, and lots of funky old restaurants.

Tomorrow we are going up to Richardson for dinner with our friends and John and Steve are going to one of those Focus groups about cars. He never usually ventures out that far but I think the $125 cash offering had something to do with it. We can take that on our trip next week.

And that's about all for this week. Pictures of the cabinets tomorrow. They are coming along nicely albeit slowly.

May 1

May Day...no, not the distress call, just the first of May. The flowers are blooming everywhere, my tomatoes are small and green and the peaches are too many for the small tree. We planted onions, squash, okra, one eggplant, peppers, and lots of herbs this year early enough for us to maybe have some. It is so nice to see everything alive once more. The days are heating up and we've had to turn on the A/C this week for the first time. The first picture is of the grow boxes and now all the tomatoes are almost to the top of the fence. I love spring time!

Tonight is the Celtic Woman concert at Nokia. I love their music and the art direction is gorgeous and they sing beautifully. Much different from last month's Elton John concert in Austin which was "FAB-U-LOUS" in its own way.

A dear parent and friend from school is a professional framer and framed the Hip to be Square alphabet I stitched last summer. I have never had anything professional framed before and there is indeed a difference in what she does and what I can do. It is just perfect! All through my teaching years, I have made friends with some of the parents of my kids but Brigitte is absolutely the best! She helps out with our Fabulous Fridays even though her youngest is no longer involved. She had the kids create 3-D pictures on recycled tiles and helped every one of the 50+ kids frame them as she would with backing and hangers. All day they walked around with them as if they were the Mona Lisa! Doesn't it look nice! You can click on the picture to make it larger.

Jack is still wearing his "collar of shame" since he won't leave his poor tail alone. We noticed his chewing one night and were horrified to see he had chewed the underside bare. Off to the vet for pills and the collar and a week later he is finally doing better. It's hard to watch them feel bad since they don't know what is going on.

Four more weeks of school. It hardly seems possible that another year has gone by. We only have to look forward to the usual end of year acitivities: the Travis 10 Year Party, picnics, Fabulous Friday, gardening, and then it's over until August.

March 22, 2010

Spring Break is one of my favorite times. And on the first day of spring we had another inch of snow! It was the 2nd snowiest year on record, 17.1 inches! I've never seen so much snow in Dallas; well the first snowiest was 17.6 inches back in 1977 but I don't remember that. Maybe because I had a newborn and was too sleepy to notice.

Today I finished a Ladybug for my little GGranddaughter's room. I made it into a wall hanging but didn't have any paint to finish off the dowel. The idea of using ladybug material sounded so
good but it looks a bit odd because all you can see are the tabs. The backing is the same material and I stuffed it a bit. I will paint the dowel tomorrow and put some ladybugs on the rod. Wendy and I are having lunch Wed. so I'll bring it to her. It's a design from San Man Originals.




Wendy is 4 weeks pregnant and as thrilled as anyone I have ever seen! This will be my first bio grandchild so it's pretty exciting. She wants a girl, I don't even care as long as he/she is okay. Baby is due Nov. 28 so next Christmas will be very festive!!! I just can't wait.

In the meantime I've been scanning old family pictures and trying to put the family into groups with identifiable faces to the names. There aren't any folks left who can identify many of the people, so I'm going on matching the pictures I do have identified with matching homes, clothing, and smiles. I also documented, through the census records, places that they lived and finding the addresses on Google maps. Interesting that many homes are still there, and many more are now parks or apartments or simply empty spaces. Some homes look much the same and others are almost unrecognizable.

I had the nicest exchange from Suki in Finland. She sent charts and thread and the cutest card with "snow" in the middle. It's so much fun to exchange with people from all over the world! And then I just keep sending Barb floss for her NASCAR wins. http://barbcat13.blogspot.com

I'm working on the 2010 calendar from San-Man, up to March and then doing a small Easter chick to put in a tuck. I've decided to actually FINISH the ones I have already stitched although it will take some time. It took me 2 hours to finish the Ladybug today. I always have so many interruptions from the mailman bringing me my Dutch oven to the sweet lady down the street who came by with her daughter and their little bichon to play with ours. I was watching FlashForward at the same time. I'm not sure of that show anymore...getting confusing and very dark.

Randy just called and is currently in Kuwait on his way through DFW on Wednesday!!! We'll get to see him for about an hour before he heads on home to Seattle and Fort Lewis. I was going to go to lunch with Wendy on Wed. I guess we'll change that. Maybe she'll get over to see him, too.
Until next week!

February 21, 2010

Posting pictures, before organizing, of the treasure I picked up today. I have no idea what I can do with all the kits, materials, and things I got, but it was too good to pass up. I'll write more later.

Febraury 19, 2010

It's just one of those days. Today is the 6th anniversary of my mother's death and I feel the loss every day of my life. You just want to go back and do more, sit with her more, take her more places, make her oatmeal just one more time. Sometimes I feel her near or I'll catch a whiff of Windsong, her favorite perfume, or maybe I think I hear her voice. Such a loss you just never get over. There was an article years ago in Reader's Digest about a lady whose had to put everything of her mother's away because it screamed, "remember me". Then later on the articles only whispered. I'm to the whisper state, finally able to turn lose of those things that she had in her house, in my childhood home. I have the pictures, and now those pictures are finally enough. So Godspeed my beloved mother, I shall see you again.

And it's a happy day, too! It's my dear friend Kate's birthday! She and I met 31 years ago at a truly awful inner city school and we've seen each other through births, our kids' childhoods, one divorce, and a lovely re-marriage, parent illnesses, the death of both sets of parents and inlaws, and the death of a brother, 3 graduate degrees, various certifications, and then the marriages of all our kids. Hopefully we will also share the birth of grandkids! So Happy Birthday Kate! I love ya!

Busy week..No stitching at all. I worked 3 days and stayed late Thursday to proctor the essay writing that the prospective students take for entry into our magnet school. Some were adorable, so serious as they wrote last night. One little guy had been taking writing lessons. These are the kids whose parents belive in the public schools and are trying to keep their kids within the system.

I am trying to finish up an old SAL as one of the parents who is a framer has offered to frame some of my needlework. I really want the alphabet by Oak Haven (Tonia Pappan) framed; otherwise it will just sit around. I am also determined to make the Ladybug chart by San Man banner for Alicia. I have the material backing, just need to stitch it up.

I won a PIF from Barbs blog...oh boy! I need to get the PIF on my blog so I have time to make something for someone else. At least I have a year! I'm waiting for another one from many months ago but I don't think I will receive it. I'll have to NOT wait because I'll forget who I'm supposed to send to. But I am thrilled as I usually don't win anything; certainly not the Bingo game, nor the NASCAR races, (I don't even know what it stands for...should look it up I guess.) and not even Trivia much anymore.

Maybe snow again next week! Wouldn't that be great!

February 14, 2010

What a week! Rick and I drove down to Austin to attend the TCEA, Texas Computer Education Asso. conference on Wednesday. I love going to see all the new things I will never get to use. This year I found lots of "clone" things: one booth had an Elmo and the next had a BETTER Elmo, so we concentrated on the new software and the booths that we know have new things. I did manage to procure a complete set of Tech4 Learning software, my favorite software company, and a couple of Tshirts and a hat. Also won a GC to Starbucks.

After eating at my favorite Mongolian restaurant across from the convention center, we met up with an Alyssa, an old student who is currently subbing in the Austin school district. She knows all the great little cafes so we chatted until rush hour died down and ate the most delicious carrot cake and loads of hot tea. She was one of the smartest, funniest and most creative kids I ever had taught so it was quite funny to sit across a beautiful, tall, elegant, and focused young lady who is, besides teaching, working with an animal rescue group. Ahhh, the time goes by so fast.

Then on Friday we had the snowstorm. 12.5" and it was beautiful. It was the most snow in Dallas since 1964 and we broke the record for inches. So school was closed, and it was a good thing since I was not taking my life in my hands to drive to Dallas. We do not have a snow removal system, so the best they can do is sprinkle some sand over the overpasses. The Dept. of Transportation always starts up north (where the wealth lies) and we get the leftovers in south Dallas County. I have to go over countless overpasses to get into Dallas, none of which will be sanded. Pictures below:

We did lose about a third of our huge Live Oak tree and today the lawn men are piling up the branches in front of the house. The next door neighbor has one of the major limbs of his Live Oak laying on his roof. His fared worse than ours. All down the streets were the Live Oaks decimated. They are evergreens so the leaves were just snow catchers and the snow was so wet and heavy. I do hope it comes back. The palm in the back is just brown....not much hope for it.

And it is Valentine;s Day (I can not use the apostrophe key today...it goes to the find button so bear with me). Dear friend Michele called to say she is having surgery tomorrow as she fell over the dog and broke her wrist yesterday. It is not funny, but it is a bit because her husband, Steve, is having shoulder surgery the 24th of this month to repair the rotator cuff that he broke when he fell over the same dog on Christmas Eve. Good thing the dog is cute, but he's about 6 months old and a chocolate lab so he is just full of legs!

I finished the February (and Jan.) San-Man monthly SAL and I'm doing it on one piece of Aida. I miscounted somewhere because the Hershey Kiss is one stitch higher than the Jan. cup. I don't know to fix it or not. It's not noticeable, but then again, it sorta is. Sigh....more frogging, as if I don't do enough.



Bob is continuing to improve since his surgery last week. He's back to normal and we hope this is the end of it.

January 12, 2010

I had some Yahoo messages today from my online friends in Zimbabwe. They are in the process of being removed from their farm and have packed up what they can to take to friends in Mutare for the time being. Hannes, Fiona, and their two children have spent their lives building the farm and dreading the day they will be removed in Robert Mugabe's "Land and Farm Reclamation" program to aid the poor African farmers. In actuality, only white farmers are being targeted, the land being given to his ministers and their families. No one actually farms the stolen farms and Zimbabwe continues its slide into a third world nation. What was once a thriving country with a 97% literacy rate has now declined into a world of poverty, hunger, disease, and corruption by the man and his pals who at one time were seen as the "face of the new Zimbabwe". There is no law for these farmers who kept workers working and the economy moving along; the law IS Mugabe, the courts ineffective. Even the church has remained quiet and many heads of churches have become the recipients of the land theft. Our prayers are with this and the other families who now face uncertainty in both where they will live and the loss of everything they worked for. In other news, Haiti was dealt an enormous blow with the earthquake that ravaged the island.

Our dear friends Lane and Kate were there last year to help with a physician group and while there saw such giving and loving people who were desperately poor. This certainly didn't help any. I hope they receive help from the rest of the world.

I'm going to have my hand fixed once more: the carpal tunnel has invaded my middle finger. So on Jan. 18, I'll go and have another round of "release". It is so sore and I can't bend nor straighten it out. It came on so suddenly. Annoying that it is on my right hand but I'm looking forward to having my hands work again.

I love Pearls Before Swine.. Click on the comic to read it.

..

January 9, 2010

This is our snow on Dec. 28. Not much but it was pretty for the time it snowed. Nothing ever much sticks. John's windmill bit the dust-you can see it laying down in the front by the small snowman. I never cared for it, would much prefer a wooden one. Maybe I'll look for one the next time I go to Canton. They have everything there!

Not much new today. Steve and Michele drove over (literally since it's 40 miles away) to go to dinner with us at "The Corral" up the street. It is always so much fun to see them as they liven up my life! We went over to Best Buy to get John's new and cheap DVD player to replace the old one that doesn't work. He saved his money from selling those date nails and bought a Blu-Ray for the living room. Of course we don't own any blu-ray DVDs so we'll have to wait until Netflix sends one that we had picked out. I wanted to get Lord of the Rings on Blu-Ray but the set doesn't come out until March. I won't pay 20.00 for a movie I'll see once or twice (I wish I had gotten Serenity on Blu-Ray-maybe I'll splurge next month).

Cowboys are in the playoffs so all of Texas is holed up in their homes watching the game. We tape them and watch after an hour or so. That way we can fast forward through the commercials. Off to watch.

January 4, 2010

Christmas Day was spent with our friends Michele, Steve and Rick as well as Robert and Wendy. We didn't do the traditional turkey in favor of my first cooked prime rib and lobster. It turned out nicely! Thank goodness for Allrecipes.com who provided a great and easy recipe. As we get older and have to share our children with other families, it is nice to have our dear friends share the day. Michele and Steve's daughter was spending the day with her boyfriend and their other daughter lives a bit away. Her husband is in Iraq serving in the Air Force. Rick is alone as his brothers and sister live in Indiana, New York and Brazil respectively. All of our parents are gone so the "older crowd" got together. Thank goodness Wendy is around as Randy spent another year in Iraq.

And the new year begins...And they are coming and going so fast these days. Robert came to finish fixing my car which had a cracked radiator. Geesh, 8 years old you would think they'd last; only has 89,000 miles on it, too. On New Year's Eve we ate at our new favorite Vietnamese resaturant and then went to see "2012". It was cold and we didn't want to get on the road with the crazies. Coming home we saw 2 police cars with their prey pulled over: one doing the head-hanging-looking-sheepish "I didn't mean it" look on the side of the road.

A girl I met (literally, she is 34) online on one of the Yahoo groups a few years ago sent me a link to the local paper. She lives in Zimbabwe and has had all sorts of problems the past years with the current administration of Robert Mugabe. Her family is one of the last remaining white farmers and are being systematically routed off their homelands.
http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/jan2_2010.html
Fiona reported that some of the former farmers were given land in Nigeria and are helping to make the Nigerian nation more productive agriculturally. Nigeria doesn't have the same animosity to the white farmers as they were not "colonized" at any point. Many more have immigrated to South Africa which is not as friendly having "fostered" so many more people recently. My prayers are with her family in this MORE difficult time.

I started stitching the January jar from San-Man Originals' new jar series SAL. I finished it except for some outlining and the nose. Of course I had every color but one. If I get the rest of the room cleaned up, maybe I could find the colors. When we moved the tables out for our garage sale last month, everything got tossed to the side. I may restitch it onto a larger piece of fabric and do the entire year as a banner. It's hard to do these as I don't stitch on evenweave and the 1/4 stitches are nasty to do.

My hand is still so stiff and sore that the stitching is slow. I have an appointment with the "hand doctor" (he may only do right hands, I don't know for sure) Jan. 11. It feels like a toss up between arthritis and carpal tunnel in the middle fingers. Anyway it's sore and I can't bend nor straighten my middle finger. Hard to drive in Dallas without that digit! The fact that it started so quickly makes me think it's not arthritis. Worse in the morning.

When vacation started Dec. 18 I vowed I would grade all those Powerpoint folktales. Five a day would get me through the 86; I would add comments and suggestions. Well, the 86 are still not graded, not even viewed so I have some work to do the next 2-3 days. I'm not even sure if I go back in Wed. or Thurs. as I didn't look at the calendar on the wall. The other lady continues to make the calendars on her terms, which usually doesn't matter, except I never know my days.

I got the nicest hand stitched Christmas card from Helle in Denmark. Isn't it lovely? To date she hasn't received mine-my first attempt at a card. Now, after looking at Helle's, I know how to make one with a cut out. So pretty. She lives in Aalborg and the pictures she sends are of a gorgeous Northern Danish city. It's amazing how clean and "pastoral" it seems to be. Helle travels quite a bit both between Aalborg and Copenhagen as well as throughout Europe and Mexico. Exciting life!

Happy New Year to all of my friends-the ones that I see and to my online friends who are just as important as the local ones. Here's to a new year, and prosperity to all!