JoJo update

We're back from the vet and the news is good.  His vitals were all good and it was unclear why he has had diarrhea...I took them a stool sample to check...He got some fluids and Flagyl and hopefully this will be the end of this shenanigans!  Whew!  The creating can begin!!!

Awards and Looking Forward...

Linda of Danvillegirl Sewing Diary acknowledged me with these 2 awards, so what better time to get real than New Year's Eve? With both awards you are to acknowledge the person who presented you with the award and to tell 10 honest things or 10 interesting things about yourself. You are then to present the award to others and post that information here and link to their blog. I will combine the 10 interesting things (not sure if I have 10 interesting things to report!) and 10 honest things.  I will throw these awards out to my readership, because you're all worthy of merit in my books (and I am too lazy to link to you all...how's that for an Honesty Scrap?)

1. I am currently worried about my JoJo...he has not been feeling well for a couple of days (I'll spare you the disgusting details) and of course his Vet's office is closed New Years Eve and Day!  WTF??? We have an appointment this afternoon at the office covering for them...he is not in acute distress, but I don't think I will enjoy the holiday worrying about my little guy.

2. I miss my daughter. Alot! We talk via the computer often, but I'd really like to give her a hug right now! (And it doesn't mean anything that Jo was listed first!)

3. My hair is turning gray...I colored it yesterday as the roots were showing...not a pretty gray either...a dull, uninteresting flat gray...thank goodness for hair color!

4. I am not that great of a housekeeper...Linda said it, so I'll fess up too.  There are other things that I would rather do.  I do maintain a standard of cleanliness, but it isn't that high.  Years ago in my nursing school study group we were having a discussion about what a mess our house was currently in.  I thought mine was bad until my friend piped up "oh yeah?  My son threw up a month ago in the bathroom and it's still there!" Okay, my house ain't that bad!

5. I actually like to cook and bake.  I've baked all our bread for years now and store bought bread tastes icky now.

6. I worked really hard to bring my cholesterol down with diet and exercise, but I missed the mark.  The good news is that my HDL (good cholesterol) was one of the highest they had seen...the bad news is that my LDL is still out of range and while the doctor left the decision up to me...I'm starting medication.

7. I crochet better than I knit...something I would like to equalize in the coming year.

8. I'm ready to go back to work...I miss my coworkers and students (and the dogs, of course)

9. I'm having trouble thinking of anything interesting to say.

10. I really should be cleaning house (see #4) than messing around on the computer...just trying to ease my nerves (see #1)

There you have it...the raw truth.  As for looking forward, I don't have any official resolutions for 2010...resolutions tend to get broken, so here are some thoughts about the coming year:

I need to get to England to see my baby.
I want to practice my knitting and crochet more.  Crocheted vest almost done and yarn procured for future projects.
I want to sew my stash down...I have great fabric, but still covet more!
Home improvement projects ahead-paint the kitchen and dining room-new flooring for aforementioned areas and landscaping when the weather warms up.  That's a start for the new year, I'm sure I will come up with alot more ideas, but I don't want to overwhelm myself.  I hope you all have a safe and happy new year's celebration and here's to a wonderful 2010

Back to Life...

Jo isn't quite sure if living in a snow zone is to his liking...here he is when we did our last walkabout to check the fire site..."Puhleeze, can we just go home?"  Surprise Jo! We are having a snow storm tonight at home.  I took dinner down to the boys at the firehouse and the roads were not bad...the interesting thing I found was how mesmerizing the snowflakes are when your driving...I get really distracted.  I didn't stay for dinner because Jo has been a little under the weather today and I wanted to monitor him.  I didn't get to sew today like I planned...after hitting the lab and doing the necessary shopping I had some unexpected cleaning to do.  The fun thing I did today was hit JoAnn's for their yarn sale...I have really been getting into crocheting lately.  The vest is halfway done and I bought some yarn for a couple of sweaters I think will be a nice addition to my wardrobe. I also picked up some nice dog related prints to make some scrubs for Sara for her new job at the vet office and also a nice BABY print...not sure...holding our breath and crossing our fingers...we had a nice chat this morning...my goals for 2010...get my passport and get our will in order...that seems so final, but I have been feeling my mortality lately...ugh!!! That is rather dark...personal moment...nothing to do with sewing!  Think I will go warm up something for dinner and curl up with the critters for NCIS...hope you all are safe and warm wherever you are.

Home Again...Home Again...

I feel like I'm torn between two lovers...my current home and my future home.  I am very grateful that my Hunny took me away for the holiday to work on our property.  It totally broke all holiday traditions and I think I would have been really sad not to have Sara and Bryce home for Christmas if we were at home.  Busting my hump to burn Mt. Brushmore kept me from having a meltdown and we got a lot accomplished.  It snowed the day we got over there, but was beautiful, sunny and cold the rest of the week.  Tom went snowmobiling with Jim one day (while I continued to light big fires!!!) and I guess snow machines are now on the want list!  They went up Paulina peak and Tom was amazed at the beauty (plus he had fun going fast!!!) We visited with good friends, ate chinese on Christmas Eve and breakfast at Gordy's (the local truck stop) on Christmas so we could skype the kids. We finished burning on Friday and took a ride up to Christmas Valley on Saturday.  Coming home we took the road less traveled and had to back down about a mile and a half because the road was getting pretty nasty.  I prefer not to be the lost-in-the-snow people on the 11:00 news!  It felt so good to get home and cuddle with the kitties!  They were a little miffed at first, even though we had babysitters in the house the whole time!  Today I tackled Mt. Washmore (7 loads to be exact!) and we totally cleaned the camper.  I am sorely missing sewing, but have been working on a crocheted vest with some chenille yarn that's been in the stash for over 20 years.  Sometimes it takes awhile to find the perfect pattern!  Tomorrow I have to go have some labs drawn and then I should be able to sew.  January's BurdaStyle came early...I am really inspired by some of the designs...the pintuck shirtwaist dress and the zippered sport jackets...I also really liked the simple pullover cape...Need to go raid the stash...

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas from LaPine, Oregon! 

May your home fires burn bright!

Got it!!!

I got the serger!!! 5 minutes later I would have been the sad one knocking at the door. (Hey, that lady called the night before, actually lived in Keizer and had all morning to swoop in and buy it out from under me) I would have been pissed driving all that way to miss out.  But it sews great...looks new and will be perfect for Annie!  I canned 28 jars of pears last night and still have a long list of chores to complete before the day is done!  More later if I don't collapse!!!

Christmas Break!!!

Ah!!! It is finally here! No students...finished teaching CPR to our training staff...life is good!  I have worked many a job where holiday shifts were just a fact of life.  Christmas and New Years off are a blessing! We went out last night for a wonderful italian meal and some Christmas shopping.  Basically it was shopping for the little people in our life, which is fun except for the throngs of people hanging out in the toy aisle and ToysRUs!  We were able to find some cute things, but of course from Walmart to ToysRUs one item we bought was cheaper and then this morning I open up the paper and it's cheaper yet at Freddies!  Grrr...you all know how that chaps my thrifty hide!!!  Oh well, it's not worth driving back to town and buying, exchanging and all of that.  Probably Freddies is out of them! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  I know that our little friends don't read my blog, so I feel free in writing about their gifts.  We got the cutest little LeapFrog Learning Dogs (Scout and Violet) for Chloe and Payton.  I tested them out in the car while waiting for Tom.  They have 14 different activities, you can personalize them and download more songs and activities at LeapFrog.com.  I like toys that have some learning components to them.  Hayden's gifts are more boy rough and tumble oriented...big metal Tonka Truck that he can take outside and play with and these Incredible Hulk Sock-em hands that make noise (I think Tom really liked them, because he tested those out).  When we got home and took the packages in, there was this strange growl.  Tom asked "Did you do that?"  I was out in the yard relieving Jo...I said "No, I thought it was you!" Deja Vu...it's the great Eeyore incident all over again!  (It was the Hulk...hehehe!) We bought matching camo sweat suits for Hayden and Chloe...now I need to come up with something clever to embroider on them.  Lots to do today...waiting for Tom to get up so I can really make some noise.  Pears to can, house to clean and I found a promising serger on Craigslist for $50.00 to go check out for Annie.  I used Trena's search tip and typed in "surger", because some people can't spell and if they can't spell it, they surely should not be using it!!! I'm hoping that no one else saw it either...it posted last night and is a little south, so maybe it will be mine (I mean Annie's!)  I have stockings to embroider, a minor repair to a jacket and a house to clean! Well, better get off the computer and get busy...Santa's workshop is open for business.

Fabric drop

The Fabric Fairy dropped a box on me yesterday.  It contained a luxurious cream jersey knit and those Vera Wang lining fabrics I stole purchased a couple weeks ago from Fabric.com.  Lovely linings...truly!!! Has me itching to be stitching, but unfortunately I must get off the computer and get ready for work!  Maybe tonight I can get something going or at least this weekend since I don't have to work.  I have 2 boxes of pears that I am waiting for the peak of perfection to can, so between that and cleaning???

No water? Time to go to the Movies...

We had a quiet day at home all planned.  Went to bed at 9:00 last night and had a glorious sleep!  Woke up this morning and tried to flush the toilet...WTH??? We have water problems!  We are just coming out of a big freeze and feared that we might have a broken pipe inspite of our best efforts to prevent it. Luckily after inspection Tom discovered that the irrigation line to the fruit trees was open and when the pipes thawed out it drained the holding tank.  No broken pipes, but we did have to limit our water usage for awhile to allow the pressure tank to fill, so what better to do on a Sunday afternoon than go to the movies?  We went to see "The Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock.  What a great story and performance by Sandra Bullock!  We laughed (I cried) and we cheered.  I give this movie 2 thumbs up and plan to add it to my video library when it comes out.  We did some grocery shopping on the way home and now are watching Sunday Night Football while the weekly bread bakes.  No sewing since we got back from Vegas except for pulling out a chewed up zipper out of a sweatshirt I am replacing for a client.  Her poodle found it delicious!  I crocheted a scarf yesterday...I am really in the mood to crochet right now.  I need to go through my yarn stash to see what I have that I can make stuff with.  I have been seeing some cute vests and sweaters in the current crochet magazines.  It seems like crochet is making a comeback.  Tomorrow is back to work, but it should be an easy week teaching CPR.  Hopefully sewing ahead soon!

Paris Anyone???

Paris Las Vegas, that is.  This picture was taken from the Bellagio as we waited for the fountain show.  We had a wonderful time and learned alot about ourselves.  We learned that while Vegas is a nice place to visit, it's really not our thing!  We made our obligatory donation to the state of Nevada and thanked them for the brief casino slot machine entertainment.  We learned that we have the stamina to walk great distances in a single stretch.  I was really thrilled to get to see the Titanic exhibition.  The only disappointing thing is they did not allow photography in the exhibit or even in the Luxor, so I didn't get any pictures of that.  It was amazing to see the actual items they have recovered and the stories of the people who were on that fateful voyage. I love history.  We sat through the timeshare presentation and actually was impressed with their program, but honestly that is not our idea of vacation. We like to be out in the wilderness (aka our property) away from alot of people, doing simple things like fishing. I have to say they didn't really hassle us too much and Tom got his Bass Pro gift card, so he was a happy camper! We headed out to Bass Pro before going to the airport to spend it. At first he didn't know what he wanted so we did alot of browsing, but then he got into it and we ended up with all we could stuff into a new camo backpack we bought there plus what little room we had in our other bag!

The fountains at the Bellagio were beautiful.  I took video the first night and the next time we caught one of the performances I just watched and enjoyed.  It's difficult to catch the beauty of things when you're always taking pictures. We really like the New York, New York casino and ate our anniversary dinner there at the American.  It wasn't a fancy place, but the food was wonderful.  I had crab legs and it's a good thing it wasn't a fancy place!  They gave me this funny looking foriegn implement to crack the shells and I ended up flipping the small plate I was using to crack the crab into onto the floor! (You just can't take me anywhere!) It's not like I have never cracked a crab before...we lived on the Oregon coast for 20 years...I know how to do it, but I usually use pliers or a nutcracker...It was pretty hilarious and the waiter got a kick out of it (and a big fat tip!).  The canal shoppes at the Venetian were awesome...love the feel of that casino and the changing sky.  It feels like you are outside when you are actually in a nice climate controlled building!  It is great to get away, but just call me Dorothy...there's no place like home!  It's great to be back in the cold Pacific Northwest, our furbabies and back to sewing.  Our last class of the year graduates today, so next week I will be teaching CPR and then it's off for Christmas break.  I love this time of year!!!  Hope you are safe and warm and are enjoying this holiday season with loved ones.

My bags are packed...I'm ready to go...

Well almost...I still have to pack up the dog's things for HIS little vacation, print out the boarding passes when we get into the 24 hour window...oh and there's that little thing called WORK that I have to show up for tonight.  Luckily it will be an activity filled night...the students have their first night route, so I will be busy and not get caught up in anticipation (I hope!!!)  Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary...what better place to spend it than Las Vegas!!!  See you at the end of the week!!!

Bitten

I popped into Big Lots today while doing my errands.  I always like to check in there periodically because you can get some pretty good deals.  Like a case of 15 bottles of Gatorade for $4.00.  Bought 3 of those...Tom likes Gatorade.  Dog treats.  Jo has gotten really bored with the usual fare and looks at you like you are serving him horse nuggets...in fact horse nuggets would probably be more appealing to him! And then this: Bitten!

Things must be really not good for SJP's clothing line...it says "SOLD EXCLUSIVELY AT STEVE & BARRY'S" and obviously BIG LOTS at a greatly discounted price!  The hang tag says this:

"Manifesto: It is every woman's inalienable right to have a pulled-together stylish confident wardrobe with money left over to live. get bitten. love, sj"

Good call SJP!  What I bought was a nice pair of skinny jeans (as skinny as I can be) in a dark gray color.  I really like them and they will be the staple in my Vegas casual look.  I have dresses for going out at night to dinner...less than one week...

I also snapped pics of the wool coat and the camera bags.  I wore the coat out and it was a big mistake.  Tonight is the big civil war football game between the Beavers and the Ducks, the winner going to the Rose bowl.  I almost got assaulted by a wild Duck fan who thought I was sporting Beaver colors...it's black and red Dude...BLACK and RED...not ORANGE!!! Sheesh!!!

It's half time...the Beavers have the lead!!!

Just a quickie before I get Rolling...

I finished the wool coat last night...it turned out okay, but wasn't the WOW project I thought it would be...Meh...sometimes that happens.  The good news is that I still have some yardage left and may be able to eek out a short jacket or a vest for sure.  As I was watching Rudolph (the best Christmas cartoon ever, IMHO) last night, I made up a nice padded camera bag for my new digital and a matching bag for the recharging accessories.  One thing ticked off my list of things to do!  I have to run some errands today, but hope to get some sew time in...a day without sewing is...well, you can fill that blank in...guess I better get on that hamster wheel (aka the treadmill) and get this party started!  Good day y'all!

Christmas Joy

Here is a picture of my handsome son in law holding up his personalized golf ball...first gift opened from his advent stocking...just wait til they find the clowns!!! (insert evil grin!)

The Frenzy continues...

Damn you Fabric.com.  You know I am weak! Why do you keep sending me these fabulous sale emails? Oh yeah, to make money.  Fabric.com is having 12 days of deals.  You can look at each days sales, but can't order those sales until the given day.  It's a progressive sale, so you can continue to order from previous days sales until December 14th (like there will be any good stuff remaining...Hello??? Have you shopped at Fabric.com???)  Today's deal is 60% off the Vera Wang lavender collection.  I didn't buy any when it came out, but I saw a lot of beautiful things come from that line, so I let my fingers do the walking.  They had several colors of poly designer lining for $1.99 a yard, so I picked up some of that.  My lining shelf has been dwindling (my dear husband would scoff!)  I had some other fabrics in my cart, but decided to just go with a cream jersey to make another cardiwrap for my Spring wardrobe.  I have some beautiful silks that I plan to make a sheath and a chic skirt/top number that would look great with a cream cardiwrap.  I also had a coupon code for being such a fanatic dedicated shopper, so that knocked it down another 15%.  I came in under 40 bucks...made the free shipping...it's all good!  Now to go get some housework done before work...it's my Friday again...Wahoo!!!