New sneakers - finally!

After several months of looking in vain, I finally found me a new pair of "out in public" sneakers. And - as I've started walking a couple of miles most mornings - I got a pair of walking shoes, too.

After spending a fruitless afternoon at the mall and visiting several stand-alone shoe stores, I found exactly nothing for my very wide and weirdly-shaped feet. So I resorted to my old standby. I bought my new sneakers online. Yep. Actually, a lot of the shoes in my closet I've bought online. (And I pay top price for most of them, too. You do that when you wear a weird size.)

I've known for years that New Balance shoes come in widths from 2A-4E for women. Unfortunately, shoe stores usually don't carry the full range of sizes. So, I had never found a New Balance shoe that fit.

Well, I found the New Balance online store. They have a page that shows how all the lasts of their shoes fit - heel width, instep height, toe box width, etc. Once you know the lasts, you can look at all the shoes with your preferred last and width. Over a certain purchase amount, you get free shipping. Returns are free, too.

I ordered nine different pairs of shoes and tried them all, keeping the two that fit best. Unfortunately, my walking shoes have hot pink trim on them. They DID have the same pair in two shades of brown, but it didn't come in my width. I may die of shame. Fortunately, I'll only be wearing these on my early morning daily walks. ☺

These will last me for five or six years. I'm not hard on shoes and I don't wear them out quickly. I have a couple of pairs of shoes in my closet that are close to ten years old and I still wear them. Lucky for me as I hate shoe shopping so much.

Book attack

Well, I didn't do any stitching this weekend, in spite of my grand plans. I was attacked by a book and didn't get away from it and its friends until this morning. Sometimes, I just have to read and read and read...

But I should pick up my needle again tonight. I do want to get "The Alamo" finished sometime. I've decided that if my backstitching is off then so be it. The Alamo is built of stone. Stone isn't absolutely straight and my backstitching won't be either. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

And I have a few Christmas ornaments I need to stitch. I'm sure the IH35 Stitchers will do another ornament swap this year. And I've got an off-road truck to stitch for my oldest nephew. My "One Nighter" patterns came in the mail so I now have lots of cars, trucks, trains, and planes to choose from to stitch for him.

DH was off at a continuing education seminar on Friday and Saturday in Austin. He has to have so many continuing education credits a year to keep his credentials up to date. There were four guys from work that went. Of course, on Friday night, they all went to Cabela's to shop for hunting stuff. Then on Sunday, a couple of them went to a lease and went bowhunting for pigs.

DH saw lots of deer (but it isn't deer season yet) but no pigs that he could shoot. So he didn't bring home the bacon.

I've been getting a lot of invites to join Facebook and MySpace. I went and looked over both sites. I decided that as I have a hard enough time keeping up with my own blog, I didn't need the added distraction of Facebook or MySpace. (And I frankly don't see the point of Twitter.) Call me an old fogey, but I won't be joining or doing any of those things.

"The Alamo" WIP

I hope to get a lot of stitching time in on "The Alamo" this weekend. I've gotten about half the backstitching done - mostly on the left side of the piece. And I've still got the leaves to do on the big tree on the right.

The backstitching is still driving me loony as I can't get some of the stitches to come out straight, despite stitching and restitching some of them repeatedly. And it doesn't seem to matter whether I use the back stitch or double running stitch. So I'll get the darn thing finished and framed and hope no one notices. Who am I kidding? Most of the people who would actually see this in my home wouldn't know cross stitching if it danced naked in front of them.

DH got all the sheetrocking done on the new bathroom this past weekend. Billy will be coming out next week to tape and bed. DH has the under-house plumbing to finish, and then he can get started on tiling the tub surround and floor. I need to go buy some tile next week, along with some bathroom paint. We're both getting excited as the end is getting nearer!

Reflecting on football

The Hall of Fame game is on tonight. DH and I will enjoy watching it. It will be interesting to see how Terrell Owens - now of the Buffalo Bills, formerly of the Dallas Cowboys - plays.

We never really cared for TO when he played with the Cowboys. Oh yes, he is talented, but he has such an insufferable attitude and a rather sharp tongue. Of course, a lot of players these days have such an attitude.

DH has some very happy childhood memories of a couple of Dallas Cowboys as he was growing up in the Dallas area in a middle-class neighborhood.

Bob Lily and Lee Roy Jordan of the Dallas Cowboys lived in DH's neighborhood, and they often played football in their front yards with the neighborhood boys, DH among them. Bob Lily kept an old mailbox full of press photos near his door to sign for people who came knocking on his door asking for his autograph. Once, Walt Garrison came by to visit Bob Lily and he sat around and talked with the neighborhood kids for a bit.

Would this happen today? Unlikely as the times are a lot different. But DH still gets a kick out of telling people that he used to "play football" with Bob Lily and Lee Roy Jordan.

Emma doesn't find football very exciting.

Another working weekend

DH took Friday off and is working on the new bathroom this weekend. He is making good progress. The bathtub is now set, plumbed, and surrounded by Hardi-backer.

DH is now installing Hardi-backer on the floor before he finishes up the the plumbing. After that, his goal for the rest of the weekend is to finish insulating the outside wall and to put up the rest of the sheetrock.

I haven't stitched a lick. I spent yesterday mowing as we had a bit of rain last week that greened up the grass and caused it to grow again. I haven't needed to mow since mid-June.

And tomorrow night is the start of football season! Yippee! I love football. I will miss John Madden on Sunday Night Football as the silly man decided to retire. But his replacement, Cris Collinsworth, is a good color man and I enjoy him. I was extremely glad that Phil Sims didn't get the job - I would have seriously considered not watching as I can't stand him and his blatant and uninformed opinionating.

A puppy!

No, not a real puppy, but a stitched one.

I've decided that I can commit to stitching each of my two nephews one ornament every Christmas. I could probably stitch one for each of my two nieces, too, but I don't think they are into that kind of thing - I could be wrong. They are grown women now; one is in college and the other is a college graduate and working woman.

Anyway, the IH35 Stitchers asked me to do another demonstration and ornament finishing was of interest. Of course, I need a couple of ornaments to demonstrate with, hence the new commitment.

My youngest nephew just turned one year old in July, so he is not up to expressing a preference for ornament themes. So I stitched him a puppy.

My older nephew is six years old and likes anything having to do with cars. Or trucks. Or large work vehicles. Planes, trains, and automobiles. Basically anything with wheels. So I will stitch him a car. I only have a couple of car leaflets, so I enabled myself and got a few more "One Nighter" transportation leaflets in anticipation of upcoming years. And they were on sale, too!

And "The Alamo" is still driving me crazy. One minute I want to finish it, and the next minute I want to chuck the whole thing. Being a perfectionist can be such a burden. ☺

Stitching fun

Well, as usual, the IH35 Stitchtogether was a lot of fun. We had great food (Lynn brought Round Rock Doughnuts!) and great fellowship. Jennifer brought a TW piece she stitched "way back when" on aida before she learned to stitch on evenweave. She did over-one stitching on part of the piece on aida! It was gorgeous!

DH liked his "Deer Nut" no-sew cube and took up to work with him this morning to put on his desk. Here it is all finished. No, there are no ribbons, bows, or cutesy embellishments on it as this is a man decoration.

He spent the weekend on the bathroom - progress is being made! On Sunday afternoon, I had to help stab a pipe under the house. I laid on the bathroom floor and stuck my arm down through one of the holes to do it while DH guided it from under the house. I only did this after DH cleaned out the cobwebs. I HATE the feel of cobwebs on my skin - it makes me wonder where the spider is. ☺

The backstitching on "The Alamo" is driving me nuts. I am anal about straight backstitching and it is very difficult on this piece. At one point last night, I was about to chuck the whole thing in the trash. But luckily, it looked better to me this morning. I use a sharp needle and pierce the previous thread, but it's just not all coming out as straight as I'd like. I've undone and redone until I've about driven myself crazier. Poop.