EEK!

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted- time flies! I haven't been stitching as much as I should- have been getting into couponing and also swapping coupons with some friends, and that takes a little time.. also been spending too much time on facebook- I don't mean to- I will get ready to sign off and then think of something I wanted to look up or someone I need to message, or just get wrapped up in a game.  I really need to set a timer when I get on there, and sign off when it dings!

I have been getting a little stitching in on my lunch break project - "Decorating the House" by Brightneedle, from one of the JCS Ornament issues.. am stitching it one over one on 32 count something or other.. hee hee.. I think it is a Silkweaver fabric of some sort.

I have been working a little on Summer House too this week- will post a pic soon. I'm almost done with the trees, have a chimney to stitch and then I can start on the sky.  Then comes alllllll the beads.. sigh.. maybe it will go faster than I think. :)

My garden has been surviving the heat, some of it anyway.. here are some new flowers that have popped up recently-

I have a couple of other plants that are growing really tall but no blooms yet- maybe they are waiting for cooler temps! I know I am!

As far as books go, I am still reading Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien.. I am in the home stretch now, less than 100 pages to go.  I confess I am reading the notes that go with the stories but not all the appendices, I am a huge Tolkien fan but I just can't read through all those minute details.  I am really enjoying the book now because it is dealing with the characters I'm familiar with, from the main trilogy.  Tolkien's imagination just blows my mind - his world of Middle Earth is so detailed and planned out, I just can't even express it.  It's just amazing.

School starts soon- hard to believe! I will miss seeing my kids a little more but look forward to getting back into a routine.  I hope it is a great year for both of them. Only about 3 more weeks now!

Thanks for checking in, I know I haven't been the best blogger for a while now.. thanks for hanging with me. :)

How does my garden grow?

I went out to the garden today and there were so many nice surprises! Look at how big my phlox is(are?) getting!

We have another strawberry blossom-had two but I think the birds got to one. >:(

And the seeds I got from Target are growing, as well as what I think are my alyssum

Argh- blogger keeps turning my pictures sideways all of a sudden! I keep trying to re-upload them and blogger is turning them. :P  My lavender seems to be off to a good start too- hopefully it will do better this year than the last- the summer heat fried it last year.

I did a quick project yesterday and the day before- a good friend of mine from church's mother passed away (who was also a friend of mine) so I stitched her this little card. She is a stitcher also. :)

Let's see if blogger will keep this one right side up!

It was out of the Sept. issue of the UK mag Quick and Easy Cross Stitch- not sure what year because it says September 144 on the cover?! It has copyright 2006 on the inside so maybe that's what year it was. I attached the design with just brads- I figured that way if she wanted to take it off the card and use it as a bookmark or do something else with it, she could.  It was stitched on linen with DMC threads.

Oh, I almost forgot- does anyone know what this plant is?

It has been popping up in almost all of my pots- I thought it was one of my flowers but now I'm not so sure, as those small buds aren't getting any bigger. I know the larger plants are strawberries, but wasn't sure if I should pull these others or wait a little longer. Thanks for any input!

On the stitching agenda tonight is "I" again, so I better get off of here and get stitching! Hope everyone is having a great week!

I ♥ Michael's grab bags!

David decided today he wanted me to buy him some addition/subtraction flash cards(Lightning McQueen of course) at Michael's- I could hardly turn that down! So off we went.. and of course I had to look around.. they had a few grab bags for 2.00 and after trying to see what was inside, I picked one.. look at the great goodies I got!

I have been wanting some flowers like those, to put in a pretty vase or hanging thing of some sort..I don't have a Cricut of any sort so if anyone wants the Cricut cake tools- post a comment with your email address- I will email you and get your address and mail them to you. I only have one so first post first serve!  I also got this pretty bird-

I have been eyeing these for a while but couldn't justify spending even a few dollars on a knick knack(and one I really don't have room for.. lol) but they were 60% off, so how could I resist?

I checked on my garden today when I got home and look what I found-

My phlox have started to open! I was so excited- I love these flowers..I'm seeing many buds on my others too, so hopefully with the warmer weather we've been having they will open soon.

I just finished watching "The Lord of the Rings-Return of the King." I have been re-watching these movies the past week or two; I just love them.  Even though I know what is going to happen, there is still a sigh of relief when the one ring goes under the fiery lava. lol I am always stunned by the beautiful scenery and the special effects in the movies as well.. they are just amazing and so lifelike!

As you see from my previous post, I finished The Secret Garden today-I had seen the movie but never read the book. I am so glad I read it! While the movie is quite good, it doesn't do the book justice. If you like the movie and have never read the book, I highly recommend it, especially now in the spring. :)

Well, that's about it for now- going to go work on Jane some more before bed. :)

I know I know..

It's been awhile between blogs again- I'm sorry.. time gets away from me.  I had another Premier Designs jewelry party for my friend Emily last weekend.. ladies even if you don't usually support the home-based businesses like Premier and Pampered Chef, etc.. I highly recommend having a Premier Designs jewelry party.  Their jewelry is reasonably priced, made in the USA, and they have a great hostess program. The company is also founded on the Biblical principal.  Not only do you get 30% of your party in free jewelry, there are added bonuses where you can earn even more.  I earned $363 in free jewelry at this party! I was/am so excited. There are so many things I want out of their catalog and got a bunch of the things on my wish list.

That aside, I have been stitching a bit, trying to make more time for it.  Made a wee bit of progress on "I"-

and am hoping to squeeze in a little time on Jane tonight, and hopefully tomorrow too, so I will show you  my progress after the weekend.

The weather has been very nice lately- last weekend David and I went outside to check on the plants and see how they were doing- I did a little weeding and David wanted to do the watering.

I have to watch him though as sometimes he gets carried away.. also saw that my viola are perking up nicely- this one plant anyway-

The others haven't started blooming yet.  From the looks of things our strawberry plant germinated into a lot of the other pots.. I left some but pulled some too so they wouldn't choke out what was in the pots. We'll see how it goes.

Park pics and a little progress..

Even though today was HOT - the heat index was to get up to 107- David and I went to the park early before it got too warm, and to the library.  It was hard to get any good pics of David, as he didn't stay anywhere long enough to take one, but I did get a few nice pictures of the park fountain and roses, and some pictures of a little garden they have planted at our library.

I have also made a little progress on Summer House- will post progress on F after the weeend is over.

It has been a little strange around here this weekend- Hanna went to Greensboro with her friend and their family(also our friends).  It seems odd not having her around!  She won't be back til late Monday.

Oh, and I got my partial this week- that goes where the two teeth were (the ones I got extracted)- I am so pleased. I thought it was going to go over the whole roof of my mouth but just clips right over my gums on that spot. It is very small.  Now I just have to be careful not to lose it.

Summer Freshness

Once a month the ladies at my church have a dinner together at the church. This month we had a salad theme. This is the lovely antipasto my hubby made me to take-

If anyone is interested(I know my facebook friends sure were!) -here is the recipe-

Salad:

a zucchini

a yellow squash

mozzarella pearls

cherry tomatoes

roasted red pepper (we used jarred- about a third of the jar)

pancetta(did I spell it right?)

Dressing:

extra virgin olive oil

juice of 2 lemons

salt

pepper

jarred garlic

garlic powder

basil

thyme

rosemary

terragon

All the spices in the dressings are to taste- he just added a bit of this and a bit of that til it tasted good-enough olive oil to cover the salad thoroughly. It was delicious and so light. We used fresh herbs from our garden too! I love the smell of fresh rosemary.

No stitching progress to show right now- working on Summer House tonight after I finish blogging. :) I did take a few garden pics though-I'm sorry, I just love my little garden!

These little guys just popped up on their own- I didn't even plant them! Not that I remember anyway..

Ugh.  Blogger is so not being my friend tonight. It took me forever to get this post right, it kept doing all kinds of crazy things!

I never did post that snickerdoodle recipe- is posting a recipe from a cookbook copyright infringement?

E is finished!

It has been for a few days- just seems life has been getting in the way of blogging lately! I started F tonight but only got a small corner done- I will post progress later in the week.

We had some visitors a couple of weeks ago- Rob's dad, his wife, and Rob's aunt and uncle came to see us.. unfortunately I had to work alot of the time they were here, but they did get to the beach, and Marsha (Rob's dad's wife) took some gorgeous pictures.  I got her permission to post some here.  I LOVE the candid shots she got of the kids especially.

And last but not least, a couple of pictures from our concrete garden, that I took-

a wee strawberry

and

Hanna's gladiolus

Aren't cameras a wonderful invention?

I haven't forgotten you...

There I was posting almost daily and then I just stopped-sorry about that! No significant progress to post on anything yet- I am making some on "D" of the Stitcher's Alphabet but I will wait til the weekend to post that- hopefully I will have it finished by then! Worked a little on "Little Christmas" on Monday- no stitching Tuesday- for some reason I was so tired that day. I was in bed by 9:30!  Hope to work on my S&S Sampler tonight.
My palace garden/New Bern pics aren't finished yet- here are some more for you-

This is part of a garden adjacent to the cafe we ate at, just off the palace grounds. It was in a house and the food was delicious!

The entrance to the cafe was on the back porch-this is one of the flower arrangements they had on the way.

Can't remember where this was- I think near the cafe' also.

Well, that's all for now- have to get the kids to school! Will post sooner next time!