Shh...

...be very quiet and don't tell IE that I'm making a blogpost. I've discovered that for the first hour my computer is on, I can sneak over to IE and get online without the computer locking up or IE throwing me offline.

So I'll post. I was planning to go into town today to to the mall to buy some new sneakers. Now that we own a house that we are working on all the time, I once again find myself needing "working" sneakers and "fit to be out in public in" sneakers. I didn't need two kinds of sneakers during the nearly three years we lived in the rent house. I only have working sneakers right now. They are covered in floor glue, floor paint, and wall paint.

I hate the mall. I hate buying shoes. I have very wide (EE), weirdly shaped feet. I also hate shoes that pinch ANY of my toes or are too tight. I hate wearing heels and won't. I buy most of my sneakers in the boys department. I buy other shoes online from high-priced wide shoe stores. But I need new sneakers so I must go forth and shop. *shudders*

Here's what I'm stitching on. I'm not using the same color of fabric (lavender for Halloween?!!). I'll post a picture of it stitched when I get it finished.

According to the FedEx website, my new computer was picked up in Nashville, TN on Sunday, and is "In Transit." I can't wait!

New computer is on the way...

I am going through severe blog posting withdrawal. I've tried posting with Mozilla Firefox, but I'm not having much success. As IE is allowing me to access it and it hasn't thrown me out and locked up my computer YET, I'll try a quick post.

I'm stitching on "Boo Y'all" by Redbird Designs and should get done with it soon. DH is working on the new bathroom, with Emma being terrier-obsessed with the holes he's drilled in the floor for the plumbing.

It's been raining like crazy here. Our driveway is a mess, but we finally got a guy out to do an estimate for getting the slippery hump and puddled dip fixed. The weather is wet but nice - warm days and mild nights.

I'm looking forward to going to the IH35 Stitchtogether this coming weekend. DH plans to go to Cabela's and buy either a hunting stand tripod or a deer corn feeder. Man toys - more expensive than cross stitching!

I'm not AWOL; I'm having computer problems

Howdy y'all. I'm not hiding. I'm not lost. I'm having major computer problems. I've tried everything I know to fix them, and then talked to my computer geek. He reckons that fixing the problems based on my description of them will cost over half the price of a new computer. So - as this computer is over seven years old and has nickel and dimed me a lot lately - I ordered a new computer. It will be a couple of weeks before it is delivered. I will try to post as I can, but I can't do pictures until the new computer arrives. I am stitching, but just not on my MIL's HBP. There was a Redbird Designs pattern calling my name... LoneStar

A finish

Jackie sent me my finish-finished eyeglass case in the mail yesterday. I did all the stitching at the stitching retreat, and then paid her to finish it for me. My sewing machine is pretty inaccessible right now, and it looked like something that I would NOT enjoy finishing anyway.

She did a very nice job of finishing. Now I have to decide if I want to keep this and use it myself, or give it as a gift. Hmmm...

Uncle Sam...

...is a pain. I spent the day doing our taxes. Yippee. No, I didn't wait until the last minute. We always have to pay, so I see no reason to give Uncle Sam my money until I absolutely have to.

Some of y'all are gasping in horror at this. I know how you look forward to getting your tax return each year. Well, I'd rather have the money in MY account making ME interest than letting Uncle Sam have it and use and abuse it all year without paying me interest on it. I'm a tightwad. That's a basic tightwad principle - my money should work for me, not Uncle Sam.

Last year I even put a calculator to it and figured out the I made $12.32 in interest by owing on my taxes instead of getting a refund. Not alot, but I STILL MADE MONEY.

I do our monthly budget on MS Excel and I also spent time today setting it up to keep track of the state sales tax we pay as I found out recently that it is deductible in the state of Texas. Others of y'all are now gasping in horror. "What?! Keep up with all that? No way!!"

Another tightwad principle - keep track of EVERYTHING you spend down to the penny. DH and I keep every receipt for everything we buy and I enter into my monthly budget spread sheet. No, it doesn't take a lot of time. I'm at my computer everyday, so it takes very little time to enter in a receipt or two each day. Then at the end of the month, I check everything against our credit card and bank statements. So now I enter sales tax, too, and let Excel keep up with it.

And now, in celebration of having the taxes done, I think I shall hie myself off to stitch.

Another finish

I finished the Shepherd's Bush quickie last night. I must admit that the spiders creep me out a bit.

No softball last night as half the ladies on our team couldn't make the game due to prior commitments. So we forfeited the tournament. That happens when the team manager signs us up for things at the last minute. She'll learn.

I use AVG Free to protect my computer. I've been downloading the latest upgrade since 7:15 a.m. this morning and it's only 65% done at 10:40 a.m. I love dial-up. *NOT*

A finish, a WIP, and a purple puppy

I had a great time Saturday at the monthly IH35 Stitchtogether. We had a good group with two new folks, one of whom was stitching a HAED over one! There were a lot of show-n-tell projects to look at, along with "lookie-what-I-got-at-stitch-camp" stuff to see, too. And of course, there was food!

We took Emma with us to Austin. The day was cool enough in the morning for DH to make his trek to Cabela's to look at man toys. Emma was fine waiting in the car. Afterwards, they went for a walk along the river in downtown Austin. DH says Emma had a grand time, and he had fun people-watching all the "unique" people. Once back at the library, Emma enjoyed the attention from all her "stitching aunties."

Gloria brought Emma a new toy. She loves it and has not yet killed the squeaker in it. She doesn't try to remove squeakers; she just squeaks them to death. She's been carrying it around all weekend and takes it with her to her food bowl when she eats. She's a silly dog. Her favorite toys - Froggie and Kitty, and now Purple Puppy - must be near her food bowl while she eats. Here's Emma with Purple Puppy perching behind DH's legs on the sofa.

I stitched a lot on my Santa on Saturday, but ended up finishing him yesterday afternoon. Whee-e-o! Now I am stitching on a little Shepherd's Bush Halloween kit that I got at the stitching retreat last weekend. It'll be a quick stitch and I'm halfway done with it already. I'm not big into Halloween, but this was kind of cute.

We have a softball tournament tonight. The weather will be cold and blustery. Yippee. We ended our spring season with a two out of eight record. Yep, we're a Charlie Brown kind of team (but we have a lot of fun). Summer ball starts up in late May.

And I have really come to loathe and despise the concrete countertops and the porcelain sink in my kitchen. The countertop is higher than normal (I'm vertically challenged anyway), and the sink is very deep and doesn't drain well because it is not set right. But mainly I hate them because if you drop something on either of them, it will break. I bought two new sets of glassware when we moved in last September. Our old sets were 20 years old and hard water etched. Anyway, I have half of one set left due to breakage, and I broke a glass from the other set last night. I am not happy. *sigh*

Another WIP update

Lately, I've been able to get in a goodly amount of stitching time. The 2005 Prairie Schooler Santa is coming along. I hope to get him finished by this weekend. He has eyes now. As soon as I stitch a face, I have to stitch the eyes or the eyeless face will creep me out.

I saw a really cool craft room on Cindy's blog. I think I have craft room envy. Right now, I'd settle for getting all my patterns up in the yet-to-be-painted-and-hung cabinets DH has made me instead of stacked in a corner of the bedroom where they are now.

I am looking forward to going to the IH35 Stitchtogether tomorrow. Two stitching weekends in a row! Heaven!

An unexpected WIP

When I go to the IH35 Stitchtogether, or go on stitching retreats, I try to take something easy to stitch. No HBPs. Nothing with a lot of color changes. Nothing that takes a lot of counting and concentration. Something easy.

I do this because it is harder for me to stitch and visit than most people. With my hearing loss, I often need to be able to see someone speaking in order to figure out what they are saying. If the room is large and echo-ey, and there are a lot of people in it who are talking, this background noise increases my difficulty in hearing. I'm constantly looking up at the person speaking and then back down at my work. Hence the need for an easy pattern.

So I decided to start a Prairie Schooler Santa as I needed to stitch one for DH's annual Christmas party anyway. I figured I'd get it maybe halfway to three-quarters done. I didn't realize that I'd be stitching on a special retreat project for most of the weekend. I got one of my retreat projects completed, but didn't get much done on the Santa.

And yes, it's driving me crazy. I MUST finish it before going on to my MIL's HBP. I hope to get it done by this weekend, or at least be able to finish it up at the IH35 Stitchtogether on Saturday. Here it is as of last night, stitched on 18 count khaki Davos: