FURTHER EVIDENCE OF WHY I SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO PREPARE A SIMPLE "PRE-DINNER SNACK" WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION

 

SORRY, BETTY

I got yelled at today. Betty sent me an email that said "WHY DO YOU POST THINGS WITHOUT ANY INFORMATION.!?!"

You know what? 

You're right, Betty. When I am unwell, I tend to just post simple pictures or funny things I find on the Pinterest. 

No bueno.

So, to make Betty happy (and to answer some of the nicer questions I received on the Instagrams)...herewith are all of the details of my new start:

The chart is Patriotic Tweet by Teresa Kogut:

The fabric is from my stash..."Spacious Skies" by Colour & Cotton. It's a 28ct Lugana that was from the June 2022 fabric club.

The threads are all Colour & Cotton, plus one DMC. All are from my stash, and I selected them by sitting with my DMC color card and pulling whatever I had that was closest. I used to be completely terrified of substituting colors, but seem to have gotten out of my own way lately, and now I really enjoy it.

The Bitsy is from That's So Kelly Co. (The Bitsy is the thread pallett. I use DMC bobbin labels to write the chart symbol and then twist a length of thread on and pat it there for easy access):

The scissors are Gingher, and the bling is from Siggy's Closet on the etsy:

And the q-snap cover/grime guard and project bag are from SewMuch2Luv, also on the etsy:

NEW START

 

HELLO SUMMER!

 

This was a delightful stitch from start to finish, Dearies! I stitched it with the threads that were on the chart, with the exception of a DMC substitute for the red. I also made a minor change to the color of the letters...the chart called for them to be dark brown, but I went with blue instead.

Labwork is done for the day, as is my treat...I stopped for a trenta cold brew at the Starbucks, and have been savoring every single sip of it!

Happy Friday to one and all! I hope your weekend is full of fun! What's on the menu?

ALMOST THERE!

 

Yet another craptastic photograph for you, Dearies! I'm sorry for the poor quality, but for the life of me, I can't seem to get it together today with this silly contraption.

I have the stars and white stripes of the flag and the lettering at the bottom to finish, and then we can chuck this one into the big bin under the big girl sleigh bed and move on to the next. I have absolutely no idea what that "next" will be, but I am simply in it for the therapy at this point rather than the finished product. I seem to be enjoying the quiet routine of stitching more than ever at this point, and the crazypants frenzy of days gone by has become just a memory.

(Remember how nuts I used to be with rotations and flitting between projects like a three-hundred pound hummingbird? I look back on some of my posts from that time and wonder who that girl was! So much energy...so much activity...so many shenanagins!)

(The funny thing is...I wouldn't change one single minute of any of it!)

Today is going to be a rest day. If I can manage it, I'm going to try to get myself into the pool to move around a bit. I think it's supposed to be hot and humid, so the water will feel especially nice!  I really enjoyed the cool sunny days we had, but methinks the A/C is going to stay on for the duration!

I hope this finds you happy and healthy and full of joy today. Are you stitching/knitting/painting/crafting something that blows your skirt up? Come tell me all about it!

 

I also like to put on a red polo shirt and go to Target so I can help people find things and then look at their receipts at the self-check out.

WEDNESDAY...FORMERLY KNOWN AS FUTZINGDAY

 

I seem to have a hitch in my giddy-up today, Dearies. So I'm doing what any sensible Spinster should do...I'm watching the rain and listening to the birds and gearing up for a bit of reading. 

Yes, Moby Dick was absolutely on my Great Books Seminar reading list somewhere during my tenure as a student, but for the life of me I cannot remember having read it. My copy from those days is highlighted and annotated and broken in, but I don't know if I did that while reading, or if I frantically made notes at the discussion table like I was wont to do.

(What can I say? I was a TERRIBLE student and had absolutely no business being in college when I was. I don't say this to demean myself...it's just the plain truth of the matter. I was a complete disaster at Notre Dame, and couldn't get out of my own way. I had the emotional maturity of a seven-year old, was socially inept, and completely overwhelmed academically.)

I am, though, immensely grateful that I can now go back and re-visit things a bit, and thanks to a few new YouTube subscriptions, I'm learning how to deep-read. I found a podcast called Read Well, and I have really enjoyed listening to the host (Eddie) teach me how to get more out of my reading...when I want to...by deep reading.

I am still enjoying "casual" reading before bed (Owen Meany), but a few hours a day of concentrated study seems to be very good for my tiny little brain. This and my new morning journaling practice have really been good for the circus that's usually in my head, and I find that even my stitching and diamond painting time has benefitted.

So, despite some ugh-ish-ness, I'm determined to pull my britches up and soldier on. A few quiet hours won't kill me, and there's still plenty of time this week to run around like a hamster.

How are you doing today? Is life in your corner of the world wonderfully swell? I hope so, and I hope you'll come tell me all about it.

SUNDAY...

 

SOMEBODY PLAY THE BON JOVI SONG THAT SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT BEING HALFWAY THERE, PLEASE

 

TIDY UP DAY

Last night I finished Ladybug Picnic:

And today I gathered all of the things from the last three finishes and put them away:

I think I'll go on the hunt for simple white wooden frames for these, but for now they'll go into the Fuppy Box to wait their turn for finishing.

I'm bushed, Dearies. My little battery has been flashing "RECHARGE" for about a week now, so I am taking myself to the big girl sleigh bed with my book (just started Moby Dick a few days ago and am really enjoying it).

Back to labs, tests, and doctors again next week. The bad news is that my insides are still trying to kill me. The good news is that they haven't yet! 

Hope things are swell in your neck of the woods! Are you keeping yourselves healthy, happy, and cheerful? Come tell me all about it!

SCENES FROM MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

 

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 2025

 

GOOD MORNING

 

A BLAST FROM THE PAST...2008 TO BE PRECISE

 

MONDAY MONDAY, BUT FIRST A BRIEF MESSAGE FROM MASTER STEWEY ANGUS WILLOWSWAMP HIS VERY LITTLE SELF

Dear President Obama:
I'd like to apologize to you and all of the passengers aboard Air Force One on behalf of my mother. When she heard the roar of the engines overhead, she ran out into the driveway and started waving to you like a crazy person. This display was sadly accompanied by her unfortunate wardrobe choice...a pair of twenty year old pajamas and a mismatched set of tube socks. I watched in horror as my old lady jumped up and down without a bra on, thus causing her to black both of her eyes. (I applied cold compresses and assured her that the resulting "shiners" would be a badge of honor.) She explained to me that this was indeed a non-partisan jumping up and down, since she did the very same thing a few years ago when President George W. Bush flew overhead. So, please forgive her, Mr. President for ruining what I am sure was a lovely pre-landing luncheon. She's a good person. Really. She is. It's just that she slips out of her invisible fence collar every now and then and I find myself having to account for it later.
Your friend,
Stewey


So I did a little stitching this weekend, but when I snapped the progress pics today I was disappointed at how little I actually accomplished. It felt like I would have more to show you, but alas, I do not. So I suppose this will have to suffice:

I also got the hankering to do a painted canvas, so I kitted this one:

I've learned a very important fact about myself. I always thought that I was completely incapable of stitching painted canvases. Turns out that I'm not incapable, I just need a little help picking stitches. So I have promised myself that I will work on some of the lovely canvases I have up there in the studio, but that I'll do so with the help of a stitch guide. (I justify this by the rationalization that we can't all be experts at everything, can we?) So my hope is that I will be able to incorporate a few more painted canvases into my half-assed rotation system (that changes daily, by the way), so stay tuned.

I'll leave you with a picture of what I assume to be a bird's egg? Stewey stumbled across it when we stepped outside to get the mail today. At first I thought it was one of those candy-coated malt ball thingies that you get around Easter time, but when I reached for it, Stewey promptly smacked my hand away and proceeded to protect the damn thing as if he had laid it himself. Damn dog.

FRIDAY

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEWEY. I MISS YOU.

 

BLOOMING BUNNY FEE NEE...FINALLY!

I feel like it took me forever to finish him, but at last, the Blooming Bunny is complete! I enjoyed both he and the Spring Bird immensely:

 I think they would look swell in white frames, but they need to sit in the Fuppy box for a bit while I replenish my stitchy account.  I'm sure that once I do, there will be lots of options out there!

Happy Monday, Dearies!

IN WHICH YOUR INTREPID HEROINE TRIES NEW THINGS...

 Hello, Dearies.

It's an absolutely beautiful Saturday morning, and I am enjoying my second/medicinal cup of damn good while listening to the neighbor's wind chimes tinkle in the breeze. It's just cool enough that I have my trusty blanket, but warm enough that they've opened the complex pool earlier than expected. (It's supposed to be 86 on Thursday...yikes!)

So it would appear that I have fallen down yet another rabbit hole, only this time, it seems like this one might actually be good for me, as opposed to some of the million others that you've all witnessed over the years.

Have you ever heard of Morning Pages? 

Apparently, there is a wonderful book out there by someone called Julia Cameron that I believe is titled The Artist's Way...don't quote me on these particulars, but if you're a devotee, then by all means, come correct me. 

The gist (from what I gathered during my totally half-assed quick research), is that you write in a journal first thing in the morning to dump all of the clutter out of your brain. I think you are supposed to commit to three pages of longhand stream of consciousness, and I'm sure there's more to it, but here's what I've adapted to my own little world:

Every morning (or, in my case, afternoon) when I get up and pour that first cup, I sit down with my little purple book (just a blank journal from the amazons) and my pen (a delightful find...did you know they make disposable fountain pens now?!), and I sit at the kitchen table and write.

I don't think. I don't fret or organize or edit or do anything, really, that would make these pages at all understandable. Heck...half the time they aren't even legible (because I have the handwriting of a serial killer and my hands are terribly sore most mornings from diamond painting or stitching the night before), but at the end of my scribbles I somehow feel...better.

In addition to the Morning Pages, I have developed the habit of staying OFF of the phone and the ipad and the TeeVee almost the entire day. I read or sleep or stitch or play with paper or diamond paint instead. No news, no doomscrolling, no Insta this or FaceBook that to distract me into tears or hopelessness. I just blissfully go about my day doing my futzing and puttering and whatnot without engaging with the world in any meaningful way until I'm ready.

Of course, this has all been super easy to do while Rich is visiting his mom in New Jersey. My old spinstering habits kicked in hard this time, and I am happy to report that aside from having my toes tended to, I have not left the friendly confines of CS2 in over a week and a half.

Aaaahhhh...quiet and peace.

When Rich returns next week, I am going to try to maintain my little rituals. We re-did our little balcony, so maybe I will take advantage of a few minutes out there with my purple book and damn good. Or maybe I'll actually leave the house and head to campus or the library every now and then?

Doesn't matter. All I know is that this un-plugging has done wonders for my state of mind, and very very soon I hope it translates into the rest of me. My guts are still completely out of whack, and some of these test results are giving me no end of panic, but I finally think I've decided to let the professionals stress about it...I just don't have the bandwidth for it right now.

Today I'm going to finish this darn bunny if it kills me. Of course, I ran out of the Colour & Cotton thread that I was using, so I've had to switch to another one that I think comes close for the last tiny little bit of his face. Once that's done, all I need to do is add the ground shadows beneath his feet (paws?), and this lovely little thing will FINALLY be done.

I have absolutely not one clue as to what I will play with next, but methinks there might be a good long rummage through my WiP baskets in the near future. Stay tuned for that!

I've made really good progress on the enormous diamond painting, and before I know it, it might be time to look for another in the basket. I am on a strict no-buy policy, since I promised myself when I started this new hobby that I would  NOT...UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES...amass a huge pile of canvases in a stash that would taunt me to my end of days.

And finally...my reading life. Oh, dear John Irving, how I love you so! I read Owen Meany for the first time right after college, and devoured every single John Irving novel that I could get my hands on. I've always said that he is my favorite author, and that one of these years I was going to have a "John Irving Summer" and read his entire catalogue back to back to back, but I never have. I do like the idea of spacing them out a bit, because at this point there are so many other great things I want to read and re-read. I just finished Madame Bovary, and am thrilled that I seem to have found my reading bug again after so many years of half-heartedly skimming through a page here or a page there of whatever library book was next to the big girl sleigh bed. This time, I'm going in awake and doing more close-reading...somewhat like the days of yore when I read and retained rather than read to simply fall asleep.

Well, it looks like my second cup is finished, Dearies, so it's time to get on with it, Before I settle in with my stitching, I want to attempt to do at least one chore. I have a full list of eighteen tasks to be completed, but so far all I've managed to do is stick my tongue out at it and have more damn good. Seeing how it's Saturday, and the traditional day of household crap (at least it always was for me), I might as well do a thing or two.

So Happy Saturday...Happy Weekend, and most especially Happy Mother's Day to all of those who observe and celebrate. I hope that your little corner of the world is swell and exactly how you want and need it to be.  Come tell me all about it!

TUESDAY PLAN

 

SLEEPY SLEEPY SPINSTER

 

TINY ITTY BITTY BIT OF PROGRESS

 

A FINISH AND A START...AND A LITTLE BIT OF PROGRESS

First a finish:

And a new start (yes...she's a BIG girl):

And a tiny bit of progress on Blooming Bunny:

(Note to self...start with the head next time. Otherwise, poor BB looks like the chocolate bunnies from when I was a kid and always started by biting off their poor little heads! 😲)

Quiet day today, Dearies.  I hope you are all well and safe and happy...come tell me all about it!

MEANWHILE...ON EASTER NIGHT

 

 

TUESDAY

Thank you for all of the lovey birthday wishes, Dearies! I'm happy to report that I turned 59 with dignity and very little fanfare. There were surprise gifts of flowers and beautiful cards, as well as a re-stock of my berries and pineapple for my morning cottage cheese/fruit plate.

I don't know if I feel any older, but I do know that I have a very long list of things I'd like to do in the next year to get me ready for 60. Nothing too radical, mind you. Probably a lot of the same, but maybe with a little more enthusiasm.

I bought a few little things for myself on the amazon, but nothing too crazy. The highlight of the package was a new Yankee Candle, but in the spirit of keeping me slightly off-center, it arrived with a bit of an attitude problem.

Never fear...one call to the customer service, and a new one is on its way to me.

Last night, I did manage to finish the Stained Glass Bunny diamond painting. If I get things done around here in the next few days I might try to find a simple little frame for him so I can prop him on the table and call it Easter.

Today will be dedicated to stitching, and I hope to make more progress on the Blooming Bunny.

 That's all I have for now. I thank you again for thinking of me yesterday! I am so grateful to be part of this thing of ours! WooHoo!