This was taken out my front window yesterday morning. I think some critter had the blood rushing to his head while he gorged himself on sunflower seeds. I guess I’ll have to grease that pole!

Do you collect charts by one particular designer, yet have never stitched anything by that designer? If so, which designer and why do you collect the charts but have not yet stitched any of them?
I do collect The Prairie Schooler and The Cross-eyed Cricket charts, among many others, but I have stitched a few of these. Wow, I’m trying to remember what I have and have wanted to stitch but haven’t. I have a designer who does lots of florals and I have most of them. I have quite a few Cross My Heart leaflets and haven’t tackled any of them. I plan to go through my charts soon so I will definitely update this post.

What is your favorite specialty stitch? Which one is your least favorite? Why?
I am pretty good at doing French knots-is it a left-handed thing? I will try any specialty stitches and seem ok. I haven’t tried Hardanger yet but want to.

My work in progress ‘A Walk in the Woods’ by The Cross-eyed Cricket

The back of it. I still have a thread tail issue.

My favorite stitching spot-the end of the sofa on the right. It just happens to be right in front of the tv too! Notice my WIP and basket of stash.

Now I like cooking shows as much as the next person-well…those of you who like to cook that is!
I just finished looking through Paula Deen’s magazine and found some yummy recipes I want to try like Lime Coconut muffins. Or you can look on her Food Network site to find the recipes that she shares on her show there. She’s a pretty Southern Belle, but I just can’t stand all the y’alls. It’s like people think we say ‘yo’ all the time because we live near Philly.
There are some expressions that Rachael Ray uses like EVOO-just say extra virgin olive oil girlfriend! I like her ‘sammie’ for sandwich though. Should I dare try those muffins in the next few days? My beef stew with Bisquick cheddar drop biscuits was pretty good tonight.

I was watching a local chat show from Philly called ’10!’, it’s a live show with an audience. Sean and I were thinking about going sometime. I bet we’d have to leave here at 7:30 or so. It’s almost a straight run from here, believe it or not. Anyway, a lady that helps to run a website called Daily Candy was on. She showed these babooshka shorts:

She said ‘how cute’ these will look with a tank. I guess she is referring to gals in their teens and 20s? Sean happen to see this in the picture section on the computer and thought they were some weird boxer shorts. I will say I like the waistband as it looks like it would hide a few rolls. : ) I was happy to find stretch demin shorts on the internet that I had to wait for!

Yes! I put the last rectangle of tiles up next to the backdoor wall this afternoon. I pieced it a lot because I want to send about 11 sheets of the tile back for a refund. That will be about a $200 refund. Boy, did I miscalculate how much I needed. I’ll have to call the seller this week to tell her I want to do this. I order 25 sheets and used 14. Hmmm…better wait to see how the tin work works before I send them back.
I then have to peel off the rest of the plastic that the tile fronts are stuck too and grout them all. Then I clean them off with a special solution and then seal them all with another solution. I saved about $400 doing this myself. : )
Sean will be helping me in the next few weeks stain the wood on the new windows. I have a lot on my platter!

We had steak on the grill tonight and it was the best we’ve have for a while. Not overcooked for one thing. Brian waited until the coals were ashy too. He’s sometimes too quick to throw the meat on the grill when the charcoal starter stuff hasn’t burnt off.
Brian added some more chicken wire fence so I could plant some green beans in the veggie garden. I also planted some delphiniums and already growing orange pinwheel zinnias. I separated some Lamb’s ears into a few plants and dug up some marigolds that were coming up in the iris garden from last year. It’s great to be resourceful! I also planted some fuchsia colored gaura near the pond.
Silly Cosmo was out on the back patio with Brian and me after dinner. He saw a bunny eating a discarded bagel and took off after it! He looked just like a panther, but he didn’t get the bunny, thank goodness.

Besides this house, an apartment near Philadelphia and a few dorm rooms, these are the only houses I lived in my entire life. The first one is the where my Mom still resides. You can see what it looks like a bit in the photo of her garden that I took a few days ago. The next place was in Fort Pierce, Florida. I don’t remember it at all. There was a canal in the back and one time my mom caught me half way up the link fence near it! Gee, funny I never tried rock climbing walls. And the last house was near where Brian grew up-I’d say 3-4 miles away and we didn’t meet formally until introduced at his cousin’s wedding to my brother. I am sure he frequented the same stores as we did and we must have seen each other some time as kids. It’s a small world after all.

Remember the photo of me in January at the sculpted hedge garden? Well this was taken back in about 1970 at the same location. That’s Don, Ken and me (about 10). : ) This is one of those fast fading polaroids.

I finally found some old photos and other things to scan at Mom’s on Thursday. This is the guest receipt for my grandparent’s honeymoon back in 1921. The stayed one night in Cape May, NJ and it cost all of $7.00! I asked mom is I could have this and she said I could only scan it. Wouldn’t it look neat framed with my Cape May piece?

We’ve had thunderstorms and downpours tonight and also part of the day. Sean and I got stuck in one on the way home from an awesome (and expensive) garden center. We actually pulled into a neighborhood to wait it out a bit. The computer has been off and on all night, thus my late post. We also have some water in a part of our basement. That’s the first in a while.
I tiled to the last wall today and put a second coat of paint on the two walls I spackled. One looks better than the other as I used different spackling on each. Brian bought the spackling on the wall that looks too shiny to me.
All this tiling and cutting the tiles is doing a number on my hand. I have been waking up in the morning with 3 numb fingers now for a few days.
I hope to watch Memoirs of a Geisha tomorrow as Sean rented it especially for me.
Speaking of Sean, he just joined the YMCA for a few months. I went with him and it’s a nice faculty.