Jobless?

Not yet but it appears as though the lady I work for is going to sell the BBQ Pit. Yes, I'll miss the extra money, but I will get my life back. I won't be a tired troll of a mom and just maybe I'll get the laundry off the kitchen table and maybe the kitchen floor will no longer be like super glue to the bottom of one's feet. I've done a good bit of stashing over the last year and have had no time to stitch like I used to so I think I'll have plenty to keep me busy. Not to mention the books I've bought too. Ah to be able to sit and read a book in one sitting again. Joy beyond belief. Not one paper has been signed, no iron clad deals but the owner just purchased a new business and running both is stressing her to the max so she's opted to sell. She's been talking about it for a while but was reluctant to let it go, now I think she feels good about the decision. I called the DH as soon as I found out and we're reasonably sure that if she sells and I no longer have my meager income we'll be fine. My pay for the most part picked up the slack on rent week, extra groceries and eating out, things that we can do on his salary if we take the time to do the adult thing like budgeting, how boring and mature.

Of course no papers have been signed so I may be working there for a long time to come.

Is it back to school time yet?

If I hear "I'm bored" one more time I'm going to go nuts. I've bought everyone books, magazines, video games, and movies. How the flippin' hell can they be bored? For the life of me I can't make these kids happy or keep them interested in anything for any length of time.

Crafty Update

Unfortunately there is nothing to update, but I think tonight I'm going to pull out Houses of Hawk Run Hollow(HOHRH) and see if I can finish House #5. DH has a softball game and when he gets home he will take DS#2 to his basketball practice at 9:00 pm. 9:00 pm! These kids aren't the Lakers. Why in the world would they have a practice at 9:00pm? It's summer basketball, there are two teams in DS#2's age group. They play each other for the total of 6 games, why is it necessary to practice at 9:00pm? What am I missing?

HOHRH is calling to me and I haven't held a needle in a few days so it will be nice to work on something I want to be working on. I've been gathering the supplies for BOAF's L'Hiver. I've had the chart for a while and picked up the fabric last week so now I'm collecting all the WDWs threads I need before I start. Hope to pick up the last few colors this weekend if I get a chance. When this design was first released she didn't grab me like Le Printemps or L'Ete did but now she's finally caught my attention and I can't wait to start stitching her.

I have so many projects I want to start. I'm rethinking DS#1's Ohio Star quilt. The original colors I planned to use just aren't working. I played around with the pattern in EQ5 and well, it wasn't pleasing to the eye at all. He loves green so I may go with green ohio stars and see what I can come up with for complimentary colors or maybe use green as the main background color and use different colors for the stars. I'll be spending a lot of time at the fabric store. I hate playing around with color. It's not easy for me, I'm not color blind but I tend to see colors differently from other people. I'll think that certain colors go well with each other only to find out later that they didn't match at all. My mother told me a few years ago that when I was growing up and put on clothes that didn't match that she thought I was trying to be rebellious or I just had really bad taste. Thanks a lot Mom! So that's one project that is undergoing an overhaul, then do I really need to list the cross stitch projects I want to start or make progress on? Here's a small sampling:

1)L*K's Monthly Block-It's all on the same piece of fabric, let's see if I can find a link:
http://www.lizziekate.com/debbieboothflipitfinish400.jpg -there ya go. I didn't care for the Block-It's that much until I saw this pic of all them stitched together. So of course I then decided I must stitch them all just like this.

2) BC's Monthly Snappers-again all on the same piece of fabric. This is thanks in part to
The Peacock's Feather and the pic here at Bent Creek's website: 2003 Snapper Complete Year
these Snappers became a must stitch for me.

I had become pretty tired of the designers doing all these monthly series, I mean how many little pillows can one have hanging around the house with the name of the month and the symbol for that month stitched on it? But after seeing these particular pieces presented this way,well it gave them new life in the old stitching basket.

And from the WIP file I'd love to work on And They Sinned again. It's such a beautiful design and since my friend Siobhan has finished it I know for a fact that this design can be realistically started and finished in one lifetime. She managed it in the span of one short year. There is hope for me yet.

In the Crochet Basket

I'm working on my grandmother's shawl and I hope to have a progress pic in the next few days. I haven't made a lot of progress so there's really not much to see at the moment but a few rows of crocheted ripple stitch and I think we all have a good idea of what that looks like.

Knitting

Have I mentioned that a few days ago I bought some Trekking sock wool and some double pointed knitting needles and the book Socks, Socks, Socks? Well I did. Not sure what to do with any of this but I'll get it all figured out soon, hopefully before sock weather.

Music

I've been listening almost nonstop to one of my all time favorite CDs, Lucinda Williams-Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. I hadn't listened to this in a while and had forgotten how much I *heart* this record. Another CD getting a lot of play around here is the new Dwight Yoakam CD-Blame the Vain. I'm liking it a lot.