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...when DH walked into the house yesterday afternoon looking like this:
He'd spent most of the day under the kitchen laboriously working on leveling the kitchen floor. It wasn't muddy under there; just dirty and hot. However, dirt + sweat = muddy clothes.
I am very thankful to have a DH who can do just about anything that needs doing around the house, and that doesn't mind (too much) doing what he calls grunge work - getting really sweaty and dirty. (And I'm REALLY thankful for my washing machine!)
LoneStar
Emma is doing much better! (And I tried to post this yesterday, but Blogger is still experiencing "bugs.") Thanks for all your comments and good thoughts!
I'm sure she will "help" DH as he begins work on leveling the foundation of the kitchen later today. Last week when he crawled under the house to assess the work needed, Emma crawled under there with him. Then she left and crawled in from the other side of the house and woofed at him. DH thinks she was telling him that there was an easier way to get under there.
Emma is normally only allowed up on the bed when one of us is on it and only for special circumstances. For instance, she keeps DH company when I'm in the shower at night. She also gets up on the bed to greet me first thing in the morning. And if I take a nap, she naps, too. She doesn't sleep with us at night. She also knows to "ask" before getting up on the bed. She does this by standing by the bed and then giving the nearest human the stink eye. This morning, she wanted up on the bed and I indulged her.
Here is my "One Nation" WIP.
LoneStar
Last night, right before bedtime, Emma decided tangle with a snake again. The snake, as usual, won. DH always goes outside with her for her last evening potty time - mainly to make sure that she goes and doesn't get distracted like the ADHD poster child she is.
DH said she was barking at something on the other side of the house and wouldn't come when he called her. Then she got quiet and came limping around the house on three legs. She had two puncture wounds on her left front leg, right about where her "wrist" would be if dogs had wrists. She was clearly in a lot of pain and somewhat shocky so we loaded her in the car and drove to the vet.
We have a wonderful group of vets. There are three in the practice and they and all the staff are truly animal lovers. The vet who treated her for her last snake bite was on call. Dr. Lipsey just loves Emma and calls her a "sweet thing." She checked Emma over and gave her a couple of injections for pain/swelling and infection. Emma also got some pills of the same drugs to take over the next few days.
She is not a happy dog right now and is laying around with her sore and swollen leg stretched out. She is at least able to put some weight on it this morning; last night she wouldn't walk on it at all. The snake anti-venin injections she's had definitely helped as she had a lesser reaction to this snake bite than the last one. Now if we could just teach her to leave snakes alone. Yeah, right - she's a terrier!
Emergency after-hour vet visit - $150.00. Emma doing better - priceless!
LoneStar
DH has been working hard on our current DIY project. He framed the wall between the utility room and the den and put a layer of sheetrock on the den side. Then he went to install the framing for the pocket door between the utility room and the kitchen and discovered an ugly truth; he has to level the kitchen floor before he can proceed further.
We knew we were gonna have to do this, but we weren't planning on doing it until much later. Oh well. So Saturday morning bright and early, DH dug around the kitchen end of the house (we have a pier and beam foundation) and crawled under to figure out exactly how much work is involved. (He came out covered in mud; I was very thankful for my front-loader washer!) Then he called his buddy at the tool rental company and reserved a house jack for Memorial Day weekend. He's got his weekend all planned. I wonder how many trips to Lowe's he'll make? ;-)
I'm making progress on "One Nation" as I finished stitching the blue star field. I've started stitching the outlines of some of the stripes, have stitched one star, and have stitched the "A" in Alabama. Hopefully, I'll remember to get a picture tomorrow morning when the sun is out.
LoneStar
I still haven't gotten back to stitching on "Homespun Hollow." I showed DH a pattern that I liked but wasn't sure I'd enjoy stitching. Well, he liked it, especially after I mentioned that I thought it would look good hanging on the wall over our bed. I mean he REALLY liked it.
So I did what any sensible stitcher would do when their DH expresses a distinct interest in a particular pattern, I bought it and commenced to stitching on it. The pattern is "One Nation" by ByGone Stitches.
I love the look of the pattern, but wasn't too keen on stitching endless rows of letters (the names of the states) and long endless rows of borders. And stitching 50 Quaker stars didn't sound fun either. But I figure if I get it going and aim for a couple of stars and states a week, I can get it done. And it will look really great hanging on the wall over our bed. And I like stitching with red, white, and blue.
I did have to wrestle with my inner tightwad though before starting to stitch.
The pattern is VERY large - 400w X 210h! Stitched on 28 count as called for by the pattern, it will measure 28.5" x 15"! You need a fat-half of fabric to stitch it. The pattern called for linen which would have run me around $30-$40 dollars plus shipping, depending on whether I used hand-dyed (called for) or regular linen. I didn't want to spend that much. Besides, I already had a perfectly lovely fat-half piece of Tea-dyed Monaco sitting around. So I used it.
And I didn't want to use the Crescent Colors called for as they are not color-fast. They are very lovely colors, but as this is a large piece that will take some time, it will need washing. In addition, you need 24 skeins of Crescent Colors at $2.00 a skein to stitch this. So I used good ol' DMC instead. I'll post a picture later.
LoneStar
I had two finishes yesterday!
Here is "Photobooth Snowmen" by Bent Creek, stitched with DMC from a kit containing 32 count linen and regular-sized Mill Hill beads. I substituted petite-sized beads of the same color. And let me tell you that stitching beads of a color called "Ice" with invisible thread is a right pain in the patoot! I was nearly cross-eyed by the time I got them all stitched on.
And I was having such fun stitching on the project that I usually only stitch on at our I35 Stitchtogether that I kept stitching on it after I got home last Saturday and finished it up yesterday.
This is "Tribal Seahorse" by White Willow Stitching stitched on 32 count Vintage Blue Whisper linen by Zweigart with NPI silk color 852 - a very dark navy. Once framed, this will hang in our bathroom.
LoneStar
