JUST KEEPIN' MY CRAZY ON THE INSIDE TODAY...

So here we are on a Monday and all is well. The sun is shining, the gardens have all been cleaned and tidied, and the mailbox has been replaced.

Yup. Replaced. Somebody decided to smash into the damn thing and then just keep on tooling down the street, so a lovely man named Andre was here before I knew it to put me back on the map once again. (God bless that homeowner's association!)

Between the clean and tidy gardens and the new mailbox, my neighbors are left scratching their heads wondering when I decided to get my proverbial act together, I'm sure. It's not that I'm the neighborhood nutball, per se, but I've never been able to keep up with the Joneses with respects to flowers and ponds and lush greenery and whatnot. Add that to a twitchy little dog and a propensity for organizing my recycling, and you've got one very weird little spinster here in The Forest.

Here's a little progress on the Prairie Moon piece. (And yes, in case you were wondering, I did switch out the R.I.P. for a Boo! Don't ask me to explain it, but I've got some crazypants aversion to stitching the letters R.I.P. on stuff.)

(No, I don't know why I am the way I am, so just go with it and chalk it up to an eccentric little quirk.)
(And yes, to answer your second question. This is the only thing I've been working on.) Phooey.

Aunt Chrissy and I went to the Michael's to pick up this beauty:
The wrinkles don't really show up in real life, I promise. I think it has something to do with the glass? I don't normally use glass on my stuff, but the lovely framing expert at the Michael's really insisted that I use it this time since this was on fabric and not heavier linen or canvas. I'm very happy with this and have temporarily hung it in my office, since the blue is throwing me a little bit. I don't have one spec of blue anywhere in my house, so my whole "matchy-matchy" thing has been thrown into overdrive.

Stewey is well and sends his love. He wanted me to share with you a little gift that he received from his Aunt Chrissy. He's been suffering through some issues lately, and she thought this would be the perfect little pick me up. Her name is Penelope the Piggie, and her story reads thusly:

"With her head-strong determination and good fortune, Penelope is the perfect depiction of overcoming impossible odds! Her personal waGer against anyone using the phrase "When pigs fly!" has brought much abundance and prosperity indeed!"
She sits on my stitchy table during the day, but he insists that we carry her into the bedroom and put her on the nightstand each evening so that he can keep a peep on her throughout the night. Damn dog.

So that's the report for a Monday, my dear and fabulous stitchy friends! I hope that you had a splendid weekend and that your week is off to a flying start!

Oh! and P.S.! I am very happy to report that the grilled pierogi with kielbasa and onions, the chicken stew, AND the rootbeer bundt cake all turned out very very well indeed! (A note of caution, though...although delicious, the grilled pierogi are actually little lead pillows that will make you pray for death if you eat more than ten of them.)