The leaf wreath on my front door. Not really leaves. I like the little owl.
A hydrangea kind of a bush turning yellow.
The burning bush just starting to turn red.

A guy from Brian’s work brought in a bushel of eggplants that his 90 yr old dad had grown. Unfortunately, Brian only brought home two of them! Here is my eggplant parmigiana from last night. It was one of the best I’ve made! I told Sean to grab the camera for this frickin’ masterpiece-opps-lol! And I even had a slice of it for lunch today.
Off to Big Lots to look for storage boxes that fit under the bed. That’s what I do in the cooler month-I try to organize. : )

I decided I better tackle the dusty bins of shoes behind the head of our bed. The bed is ‘catty-cornered’ so I have a ‘v’ shape for storage there. But I learned some things…never just store shoes in little bins (like plastic trash cans) without something covering them. First, you forget about the shoes and second, they get so dusty! And to think all that dust was near our heads, well no wonder I have nasal allergies.
So then I can’t believe some of the shoes that I have bought over the last few years. After I smacked the dust off them outside, I started to try some on. I will say that I am good at buying leather and not ‘man-made’ material shoes. But the styles! The big heels, the Maryjanes, what was I thinking?! Some of my favorites-my blue suede shoes-yep-like Elvis-I even have slacks to match, aren’t any good because the sole is peeling off at the tip of one of them.They are a good make too.
I’m not finished sorting them all yet. I plan to put all my sandals in the woven basket that I have on top of my armoire. This time I will cover them with a plastic bag. Live and learn and stop buying ugly shoes!
I am doing all this in hopes of getting a new mattress before the month is over. I killed a lot of dust bunnies in the process. Your bedroom should be your clean shrine.

From last week:
Have you ever stitched something as a gift and later realized that receiver doesn’t respect your stitched gift a bit (for example it’s never on show, or you have other reason to suspect that it may even be nonexistent or at least placed in some dark storage room corner)? If so, what have you done? If you’ve been lucky enough to avoid such people what would you do if it’d happen to you?
This happened to some pieces I made for my niece for her second birthday. I made a little Dragon Dreams castle and a little Joan Walsh Anglund Princess. They weren’t huge and I framed them in 5″x7″ frames. I have to say that my brother was doing a lot of home improvement and just got around to hanging up the pictures this year. My niece had forgotten that I had even stitched them.
If you have stitched for a while, can you usually pick out the DMC colors you need from memory when you go to your LNS? (For example, you know that 610 is a brown.)
This was my idea for a question. It’s so true that I was wondering if other stitchers dreamed in floss colors like I do. If I am working on a piece and running low on a color, I tuck that number in to my brain and pick up a skein on my next shopping trip.

I should be outside basking in the sunshine and cool breeze but I am trying to tidy up in here and take care of this ear issue. The left ear feels clogged and is still echoing a little.
So I got up and did what my mom-mom use to do for earaches-I heated a little Vicks vapor rub on a spoon and dipped a bit of a cottonball in it. I had it in my ear for a while until I took a shower. I also took a Sudafed and blew a little warm air into my ear. I just hate going to the doctor if I can take care of something by myself. Crossing fingers.
As for the cleaning-when I am over my brother’s house, I feel like my house is the ‘before’ picture and theirs is the ‘after’ picture. There isn’t a thing out of place. Even Ken leans over to pick up little pieces of paper off the rug. He never did that at mom’s house!
So, I mainly worry about how clean the rugs and floors are. Then the table tops. I have a great vacuum and my 13 yr old rug in the family room looks pretty decent for it’s age. Brian and Sean won’t pick up little pieces of paper like Ken does. I think that’s why his house looks so immaculate-he takes an interest it. He’ll clean up after dinner-gasp-wipes down the counters even!
I did one of my Love Quilts squares last night while my ear slowly got worse. I haven’t cross stitched for a few days. This particular design has a few shades of white/ecru, so it’s not fun doing the fur of the bear.
I am pretty sure I have my design picked out for the Neighborhood Round Robin. I need a border too, so I’ll be looking for that. I am leaning toward a seaside town with Victorians, similar to Cape May, NJ-one of my favorite spots. I will probably do a Victorian that I have. That is also my dream house. I would love to live down in Cape May. Dreams occasionally come true, right?
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They quoted me quoting my brother about his struggle with living without power in Florida thanks to Hurricane Wilma. I’ve never been quoted before! Thanks BB!!