Poor Sean thought he had flea bites. BUT, fleas don’t bit you 50+ times. Before that, he thought he had a allergy to soap or something. I found the real reason for his ‘spots’. He probably has pityriasis rosea. Sounds scary, but it may be from a virus, but it could take up to 4 months to go away. If he has a mild case (and I sure hope he does as some of the photos were ugly), it should go away sooner. When I was a teen I has something similar, but mine was a sensitivity to a certain elastic. But just to mention this to those of you with kids his age: mostly young adults get this in the spring or fall of the year. And it may be contagious. I’m not taking him to the doctor, because a similar thing, syphillis is something that he surely doesn’t have. He’s doing the right thing using hydrocortisone if it’s bothersome. My poor guy. At least he is off for a week to rest.

I am getting so sick of the kitchen. Everytime I clean something out I am glad, but I hate running across dusty goblets and oddles of superballs under the free standing cabinet. We moved ‘the pie safe’ into the living room. Stuff is piled up to be sorted. Believe me, it’s hard to cook out there right now. I still have cabinets to do-dishes, silverware and under the sink. I know I have too much of everything and when the new kitchen is in place, I am sure I will be donating a lot of it or selling it on eBay. I love my copper molds, but I’ve loved them for almost 20 years. I don’t think they will fit in the kitchen anymore. Not to say I won’t keep a few of them.
And the endless canned goods! Some have expirations, some don’t. I will have to go through the food at least three times to make sure I really want them. My brother said just to toss all the spices. I do know which are newer. Jars of spices are pricey, so I will keep most of them. I inspected these too.
At this point, we are probably going to order a new window (I’d love a greenhouse window, but is that practical for over the sink?) and frig, first. I figure we can set the new frig up in the dining room rather than getting rid of the old one in the midst of all the mess. We need all new appliances. My microwave is ‘arking’ when we push the start button, so something is wrong with the touch pad (we use a wooden spoon to push it). It works fine otherwise.
I’ll post a photo when it looks better in there which may not be until the day before construction begins-hopefully by the end of the month or into April.

This is a Charles Wysocki design stitched on beige linen. It’s folded under, but the fence is straight. I added a picket fence with climbing yellow roses (my favorite kind). That’s my cat Cosmo on the fence. I altered this a bit to fit in the square. The flowers are all French knots. It’s being sent to the next stitcher in England in a few days.

Q. What cross-stitch magazines or other publications (as opposed to
blogs) do you read on a regular basis? What do you like about them?
What do you not like? What would your perfect publication include?
To tell you the truth, the only cross stitch magazine I ever really liked was Cross stitch and Country Crafts. They have just revived this magazine and it’s ok, but not as good as it’s predecessor.
I did like Stitcher’s World too. I just clipped about 5 old Leisure Arts magazines. I did keep more than I thought, but they were from that decade of geese and hearts.
I really like UK cross stitch magazines, but they are so expensive. I have to love a design on the cover before I fork out $7-10. But there is always eBay!

As for my idea of a perfect publication-one that includes finishing ideas, new designers (and spotlights one), new materials and designs that are ‘doable’ and not too cliched. I forgot to mention how much I love the special JCS yearly ornament issues! They are so much fun and give me new ideas too.

The above shot was taken at the Walden School which use to be called Sandy Bank Elementary School where I went to kindergarten, 2nd and 3rd grade. I guess Sally must be a pal of one of the teachers, not sure. This is about 5 yrs old.

Back to tidying up. Ugh. So boring. ; )

I knew only time would tell if the antibiotic would agree with me. Or maybe I should have laid off the vanilla ice cream last night. ‘Whateva’ gave me a good GERDY type of episode this morning. I was talking to my mom and it started.I had called the doctor to say I wasn’t coming in-this was around 10:15. About 1/2 hour later the nurse called back and said my urine was negative-for what? Going to that office is like taking a boat ride on the magical mystery tour. Anyway, it took a few Rolaids to calm me down (I cough and gag-not pretty). I haven’t had one of those for a year, so it has to be the medicine. Only 5 more pills!!
Lucky me gets to go to the bank and post office today.
We had a little snow overnight, but it’s mostly gone now. I was leaving messages on The Bachelor board (it was late and I was bored) when I noticed that the motion detector light out front was on and there was snow all over the van.
~CONTEST ALERT~
Home Depot is giving away a tractor a day from 2/23 to 3/8. You have to register. Go to homedepot.com/tractors. They have a cute flash of mowers doing their jobs.
Also at marthastewart.com she is giving away 20 essential tools for your kitchen. I just tried to sign up but it must be overloaded because of her show just airing.
Today is Fat Tuesday, so I think I’ll get fat hoagies for dinner and have a nice fish meal tomorrow.

Geez Louise-could they have dragged that Bachelor show out any longer? At least Dr. Travis McHunky picked the right girl-the kindergarten teacher Sarah. I scared the cat by clapping when the first limo pulled up and Moana climbed out. That girl thought she had it all wrapped up. I can see why no one really liked her that much. And to tell you the truth, the producers probably told Travis to kept her as one of the girls for ratings. I remember seeing the shocked looks on the other ladies’ faces when he would pick her at the rose ceremony.
The laugh of the night was when Travis’ little niece drew a picture and said she liked Moana better. Little kids remember the last person they spent time with. The entire family went to France to check the two girls out. And guess who they liked-Sarah of course. I know this show is mostly a bunch of BS, but it’s fun to watch. I guess sometimes we gals need to see a little romance and hope it rubs off on our someone.

I was trying to finish up my house cross stitch and I had to rip out a windowbox because it was a stitch off. I am getting down to the nitty gritty. I really like it too.