New Me

If you remember the very first post I made one of my New Year's resolutions was to lose weight.  This morning I signed up for Weight Watchers.  Mom and I are going to our first meeting tomorrow afternoon.  I did Weight Watchers probably 10 years ago.  I lost 30 pounds in 4 months.  I hope to have good success again. 

No stitching to show right now.  I have been in a slump.  Work is so very frustrating and really bringing me down big time and has gotten me so depressed I just don't want to do anything.  Maybe I will find some time and motivation to put some stitches in this weekend.

Christie

Backyard Friends

We live in the suburbs around 25 miles East of Cincinnati.  We have trees and a steep drop off in our backyard.  The drop off leads to a creek some more trees and then a busy road.   It always amazes me to see the amount of wildlife we get at this house in a neighborhood compared to when we lived out in a small, small country town.   We have raccoons, owls, deer, foxes, opossums, skunk (Indigo met the skunk up front and personal two years ago...YUCK!!!!!), all kinds of birds - including hawks, turkey vultures and many different kinds of woodpeckers, lots of squirrels and of course the usual icky critters like toads and snakes.  Did I mention that a 4 ft. long 3 in. thick snake almost feel on my husband's head when he opened the shed door last summer?  The snake was crawling up the door when Jay opened it.  Of course I took off running to the house......YES I AM A CHICKEN!!!  I love critters, just not the slithery and amphibious kind. 

I thought I would share some pictures we took a couple of weeks ago of our deer feeding from the corn in the back yard.  After they all came up from the creek we had a total of 10.  I just love the twins.

Here is a picture from this past spring of one of our baby red foxes.  There were 4 of them.  Mama brought them up everyday and they played in the backyard and ran around the shed chasing each other.  They were so fun to watch.  They came for several months and then they all left and went their own ways.  We could never get a good picture of their faces.  He/she was standing on a small leaf pile we made out behind the shed.

I just love seeing all the critters and the nature.  Someday I am going to move to the woods, live in a log cabin, sit on my porch and just enjoy the peace, quiet and beauty that exists in this world.  For now I will just enjoy my not so quiet but still beautiful piece of the world.

Christie

Missing in Action

Since my last post I have:

• Had a cold
• Gone to a stitching retreat
• Started the "Elizabeth Easton" sampler by the Goode Huswife
• Celebrated my 40th birthday

The cold was not fun and I was down for a week with it.  At least it was the week before the retreat.

The retreat was great fun.  We were there from Thursday night until Sunday morning.  Our LNS puts this retreat on in January every year.  This year I think there were over 70 people in attendance.  There are no classes, just stitching, a little shopping (LNS brings trunk shows and a whole bunch of other goodies for us to spend our Christmas money on) and lots of laughing.  Here are two snaps of the stash I got:

On the retreat and last week during my birthday I also received some great birthday gifts from my wonderful friends.  They all spoiled me rotten.  Jenny gave me a "Stitch Happy" water bottle.  I dink lots of water, so it was perfect.  Adele gave me a great pair of Valentine's day socks and the above Lion chart.  Lisa made me two wonderful zippered fabric pouches that hold me stitching project and floss/tools.  Marsha gave me a pretty, pretty piece of linen to stitch a snowman chart for my oldest daughter on.  Linda sent me a needle threader and Meem gave me a very tasty piece of pie.  Like I said I was SPOILED ROTTEN.  I have such wonderful friends.

My husband and daughters sent flowers to work and gave me this beautiful paw print necklace:

Another post I will show you the alphabet sign that my parents, Aunts and Grandma gave me and the pottery candle holder my sister gave me.  We went to my Mom & Dad's yesterday for dinner and cake. My IBS and Firbomyalgia were both acting up, so I was not feeling the best, but had a nice time.  Mom read our tea leaves and it looks like bright happy things are finally coming my way.

Until next time, stitch and be happy.

Christie

New Year's Resolutions!

One of my resolutions this year is to actually post on the blog I created many months ago.  One down, more to go.

The rest of my resolutions this year are:

• Stitch more
• Finish the stitched pieces (either frame or sew into something
• Work on the decorating of my house
• Walk more and lose the "stress weight" I have gained (Indigo will love the more walking part)

I hope to get a little something stitchy started today for the traditional "start something new for the New Year".   I also need to decided on what I am going to take to a weekend retreat I am going on in two weeks.   You would think that will all the stitching stash and UFO's I have that would NOT be an issue, but it is.   I plan on staying in my P.J.s, watching movies and stitching. 

Here's to a wonderful New Year that will hopefully bring many completed resolutions to all.

Christie