HAPPY NEW YEAR, DEARIES!

 

WHEW!

 

NOTE TO SELF....STITCH, SPINSTER! STITCH!

It's amazing what happens when I put the iPad thingie away and pull out my stitching. The troubles of the world go away, my brain stops spinning over the dumbest things, and I actually feel my breath slow with each pull of the needle and thread through the fabric.

Ahhhhhh. Progress.

I might play with this one a bit longer. It's really quite enjoyable, and I seem to be doing this one at a time thing. When the heck did that happen? Remember the spinster who used to run around with her hair on fire? 

I guess the last several years have changed me in so many ways, not the least of which is that I am certainly less...frantic.

Ahhhhhhh. More progress.

Rich returns tomorrow. I will fetch him from the train station at 7:30 in the morning and will then go get labwork completed for my upcoming visit with the Bean Team. They will be here in northern Hoosierville on the 5th to check on me, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them! 

Well, Dearies, it's time for my second cup of damn good, and then a few little homekeeping items before I settle in. I managed to get all of my laundry finished yesterday, so that leaves just a few things on the list before I can call it complete!  WooHoo!

Happy Thursday! What's new with you?

WHELMED IN THE MOST OVER WAY POSSIBLE

Hi, Dearies!

The sun is shining again here in Hoosierville, so I spent a good amount of extra time with my face in it before hurling myself out of the big girl sleigh bed this morning.

(Sorry for the visual.)

(These's something about putting my head on a pillow with sunbeams on it. As I'm sure I've mentioned before (two or three thousand times), one of my favorite afternoon rituals with Stewey was the afternoon snoozy nap with our faces in the sun. Still being able to do that here at CS2 with a south-facing bedroom is a real treat, even if it's not quite the same without that little furry lump under the covers.)

But I digress.

I received an email from a Dearie in California telling me that she has arranged for me to have my very own rose on the Donate Life float in this year's Rose Parade. Needless to say, I am still a bit gobsmacked by the idea, and am sitting here feeling like the Queen High Exalted Of The Whole Entire Universe again.

As I explained to "C" (I don't want to reveal her identity without permission), one of my very best memories as a kid was sitting in front of the TeeVee with Aunt Chrissy watching the Rose Bowl Parade. Everybody usually came to our house to have food and watch football, and the first to arrive was Uncle Connie...who made sure that we were watching the parade and who reminded us that our Aunt Mary lived right there in California. 

I STILL watch that parade every year, and I have promised myself that some day I will see it in person so I can marvel at all of those beautiful floats up close. Who knows? Maybe I could figure out how to get a gig volunteering to help decorate one? I'm sure with the right supervision I could do a respectable job and fulfill a bucket list dream simultaneously.

So forgive me for being a giddy mess today, but I am still floating around inside Cloud Ninety Nine that I have such lovely, amazing, and perfect Dearies in my life. How did I ever get so blessed?

IN WHICH PUFF IS QUITE A LITTLE CHAMP

Puff, God bless her, started right up with nary a complaint. And this was after sitting in all of that icy cold and wind for almost a full week!

So I did what any Spinster would.

I took her for a Cinnamon Dolce latte.

The rest of the day was spent stitching and watching various and sundry things on the TeeVee. I made the mistake of watching the Casey Anthony thingie on Peacock, and ended up re-litigating the thing in my head until 4am, so today we're getting a late start.

Laundry laundry laundry, I think. Or I might put it off one more day and just enjoy the brilliant sunshine and listening to the world start moving out there again. I think my neighbors are all starting to return from their holidays, and the restaurant across the way finally has some visitors again!

Happy Tuesday, Dearies! I hope the sun is shining in your neck of the woods! Come tell me all about it!

ALL OF A SUDDEN IT WAS MONDAY

I feel like I have been lounging and feasting and stitching and feasting and resting and feasting for a month and a half, Dearies!

Oh wait.

I keep forgetting that my life is one big lounge/feast/stitch/rest/feast. The only thing that separated last week from the rest of it (aside from Christmastide, of course) was the abundance of twinkle lights, ham, and these stupid sub-zero temperatures.

As soon as I can muster the motivation, I'm going to bundle up, head downstairs, and attempt to start the car. I am almost 100% sure it will be deader than a doornail, but that's why we have AAA. One phone call, and all should be well once again, I'm sure.

A fair bit of stitching has been happening here in Hoosierville:

Santa is coming along, and I am delighted that even the Kreinik has been a complete joy to stitch. I think the fact that I'm stitching on 28ct fabric has a lot to do with that, but I am also giving it a nice gentle stretch/tug before putting it through a bit of Thread Heaven. I hope to continue further with him through the week, and if I'm still feeling it, might just take him into the new year until finished. 

I do hope your holiday was perfect and that you are heading into a week of rest and good leftovers. I'll be eating ham and crockpot candy for the foreseeable future, but promise to pump the breaks by Thursday or so. 

Happy Everything, Dearies! Come tell me all about your Monday!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS, DEARIES.

Stewey and I are snuggled in with a peppermint cold brew, Christmas shows on the TeeVee, lots of stitching and twinkling lights, a tummy full of ham and Mom's potato salad, and all of my best wishes to each and every one of you for a happy, healthy, peaceful, and perfect Christmas.

Merry Christmas, my dear friends.

 

ONE MORE SLEEP!

 

SCENES FROM THE BLIZZARD OF '22

 

THIS ALL SEEMS VAGUELY FAMILIAR...

 

OH...DEAR.

 

When I was in fourth grade at St Sebastian's grade school in Pittsburgh, I won a reading contest. The prize was a party aboard The Good Ship Lollipop with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Each of us had our own Steeler host, and mine was Franco Harris. I remember that he was incredibly kind and soft-spoken and very interested in talking about books. I've carried that memory with me forever, and am so sad to hear that my "friend" has passed away. May God bless and keep his memory and may his family find comfort in their grief.

WAITING FOR THE SNOW TO FLY

Apparently we're going to have quite a winter storm for Christmas! I am well-provisioned and looking forward to hunkering down tomorrow after I get some labwork done.

Tomorrow will be a day for laundry, and if all goes well I'm going to make peanut butter fudge and crockpot candy. Both are super easy, so hopefully it will give me confidence leading into Thursday's Greek cookie extravaganza.

No stitching tonight. I did my nails instead and decided to chill in front of the TeeVee for a bit.

Rich made it to New Jersey safely, and I'm sure his mom will love visiting with him for the next week and a half.  He spoiled me rotten before he left with tickets to a basketball game and dinner in the VIP club, a beautiful ring, an air fryer (!), leggings, and a fridge full of goodies for all of my Christmastide feasting. He'll be home for New Year's Eve, and we have reservations to go for dinner at Tippecanoe Place...the Studebaker mansion. 

Well, Dearies, I suppose it's time to head to bed. I've been reading Les Miserables, and am really enjoying it. I had hoped to finish it before Christmas, but alas, it might take me well into the new year to finish.

Come tell me all about your corner of the world! Are you doing anything special for Futzingday?

SUNDAY

Still feeling a bit punk, but I have been stitching and watching lots on the TeeVee. Last night:

 And today:

All in all, a wonderful weekend! How was yours?

FLU. SHOT.

 I'll be better by Monday, Dearies.  I promise.  I'll be better by Monday.

FUTZINGDAY

 

The laundry is doing its thing in the washing contraption, dinner is in the mini crockpot (*), the lights are all on to ward off the afternoon gloom, and I am happy as a clam with Alexa playing the Christmas tunes while I catch up on reading the papers and look forward to stitching tonight.

Our weather has been quite grey and blah dee da the last several days. In my opinion, we need a couple of inches of sparkly snow to cheer things up around here, but the temperatures insist on hovering in the upper 30's and low 40's...just a tad bit too high for a Winter Wonderland.

Rich will be heading to New Jersey next week for Christmas, so I'm starting to menu plan my Crackpot Spinster Christmas Feasting. I'm yearning for things like chicken stew and shrimp scampi, and I'm sure there will be a cheeseball or something similar involved, but we all know that I'll probably just go face first into a ham and be done with it. I just saw a recipe from Ina for marmalade glazed ham on country biscuits, so that might have to be Christmas dinner.

All this talk of food has me looking forward to getting myself back on track in the New Year.  

Again.  

For the seven hundreth time. 

I have come to the conclusion that my dad was right. He always told me that if I ate what I liked in moderation and saved goodies for treats and made sure to get some exercise every day I would be fine. 

I'm pretty good with the first two. It's that e-word that always gets me. 

Never fear...my BellyBean gives me all of the motivation I need to get those shoes and socks on and get on that treadmill and back into the water at the walking and swimming place. Stay tuned, Dearies. Before you know it, Yours Truly will be running marathons.

I'll close for now with heartfelt wishes for a Happy Futzingday. I hope you got to do everything your heart desired today! Come tell me all about it!

(*) Rich is slowly introducing me to favorite recipes from his past. Tonight we're having hot roast beef sandwiches with gravy on Atlantic City Italian rolls. It really doesn't get much simpler than this...brown gravy mix made on the stove top and really good deli roast beef (sliced super thin) all mixed in the crock pot for a few hours on low to heat through. I like my sandwich with a few tablespoons of gardineria and horseradish to cut the richness of the gravy. 

IT'S BEGINNING TO FEEL CHRISTMASY IN HERE!

Biscotti...done! This is Mrs C's recipe...Rich's mom...so he'll give me his verdict tonight when he has a couple with his post-dinner hot chocolate.

Now all I have to do is gird my loins, take a slug of booze, and jump into my mom's  @#$&* Greek cookies tomorrow (koulourakia). I will curse and grunt and sweat and wonder why I do it every year, but in the end I'll hear her laughing and dunk one in my damn good and it will all be worth it.

I might also try my dad's cookies (cuccidati), but until I learn how to roll out dough without plastering the kitchen, they might have to wait a bit. I think my problem is hot hands. It seems like everything I try to shape or roll becomes a sticky mess, and no matter how much flour I apply, I end up with...paste.

Time to thread up and get stitchin' Dearies? What's new with you?

MONDAY...AGAIN

Good day, Dearies! 

Well, here we are at the beginning of another new week! Only two items/events for us here at CS2...a Christmas thingie for my local Notre Dame club on Tuesday, and hopefully a trip to Indy on Friday for the Monet exhibit at the museum. 

(Yes, Betty. I've had two negative covid tests and will be masked up for both events.)

I suspect the Indy trip will be postponed yet again due to weather, since I saw a forecast for snow and such headed our way Friday morning.

Drat.

No matter. The exhibit runs until the Spring, and I am perfectly happy to stay cozy and stitch all day. I am making tiny bits of progress, but not wigging out too much over speed. This one isn't going to be finished for quite some time, and I'm OK with that.

My new nail wraps are a bit Vegas-y, even for me, but it is the Season after all, so I am choosing festive. I think it was the name that sold me on this set...Dreams Are Forever.

Chores are complete, and now I'm settled in to enjoy the afternoon with one more cup of damn good and the paper before threading up. In an hour or so I'll turn on the little candles and the crackpot spinster fireplace and get down to the business of the evening.

I'll leave you with something I saw on the Pinterest that stopped me in my tracks. This one is definitely going in my Dream House file!

(There's only one problem with this set up...I'd never want to be anywhere else.)

Joy joy joy to you today! I hope that your corner of the world is exactly how you'd like it and need it to be today! Come tell me all about it!

FRIDAY!

You can't really see it, but the sky is full of big fat white puffy lovely perfect snowflakes! 

Looks like I better get busy....newspapers have piled up this week!

Happy, happy Friday, Dearies! My tootsie are warm, I have my damn good and the twinkle lights for company, and I'm off like a herd of turtles to have some Spinster shenanagins!

 

 

MONDAY SPINSTER SHENANAGINS

This was in my email this morning. Obviously, a mistake, but it punched my little heart. (It's a note from Stewey's old insurance saying they received my claim.)

(You know what kills me the most? Seeing his little name printed as "Stewey Rich".)

This is next up in the stitchy basket! I managed to get the fabric prepped, the threads gathered, and the q-snaps covered.

I'm not sure if you Dearies know this, but you can make working copies of these extra huge charts at FedEx Office. This one cost about $3 and will save me so much angst and anxiety trying to mark my progress!

My buffalo plaid nails tickled my fancy, but I noticed a chip in one this afternoon! That has never happened before, but no biggie...another set is just as ticklish imho.

Rich just put the Sixers on, so I'm going to settle in with my new hand toes (*) and get that Santa started!

(*) I wish I could take credit for that, but it's all Ted Lasso! If you haven't seen it yet and need a feel-good giggle fest, I highly recommend!

(*) And yes...foot fingers are exactly what you think they are!
 

SATURDAY NIGHT FEE NEE!

 Sadie's Christmas Pocket

Shepherd's Bush

Full kit includes fabric, thread, and lovely little pocket for finishing.

AWAKE, BLISSY, AND DRESSED LIKE AN ELF

Happy Saturday, Dearies! Guess who stayed up until 2am watching a show called "Wednesday" on the Netflix? Not my typical fare, but it was created by Tim Burton based on the Addams Family, and I do love me some Morticia. (But I do prefer an Angelica Houston Morticia over a Catherine Zeta Jones Morticia, thankyouverymuch.)

I am "supposed" to do laundry and paperwork all day, but have decided to stitch instead. If the mood strikes I might toss a load or two of towels around, but I'm not going to stress about it. Today is Saturday...the day of pajamas and a bowl of cereal in front of cartoons. Right?

 

I HAVE ISSUES. CLEARLY. I DO. --- EDITED

In my defense, a good number of my Starbucks points were set to expire tomorrow. When I placed my order, the lovely barista said "Ms Rich, it looks like you have quite a few points, and several of them are going to expire soon, so why don't you pick out a lovely new sippy cup to add to your ridiculously huge collection, and then you can blog all about the fact that you have more sippy cups stuffed into your stupid little kitchen cart than most sippy cup stores have in them."

Seriously, I know it's sinful for me to own so many of these, but they really do make me insanely happy and I get my fair share of use out of them drinking my lemon water.

That's OK, isn't it?

Added: Hi, Betty! Lovely to hear from you again! Thank you for researching online to discover that these cups sell for big bucks on ebay, and for pointing out that you find me "disgusting" that I would flaunt such a huge purchase.

Um, Betty? I didn't pay anything for this cup. I also didn't pay anything for Rich's tiny little cold brew or my not-so-tiny big cold brew. I use the Starbucks app and collect rewards points whenever I do make a purchase, and they eventually expire. 

So while you're counting my coins, I'm going to continue to sip my lemon water and love the fact that a free plastic cup can make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Night night, Betty.  Night night.