it happens to the best of us

and it happened to me! I turned 50 today.
(Please, hold the half a century jokes, I’ve heard them all from my kids)
I had a wonderful day too – flowers from my son and unexpected flowers from my online friend Pam, a Dunkin Donuts gift card from my daughter (who shares my coffee addiction) We had a nice dinner followed by cake, and tomorrow, my best friend (and her family)  is taking me (and my kids) out to dinner and I’ll get my big gift from the kids then. (I think it’s jewelry based on hints) So all in all, not a bad way to turn half a century lol.

from EJ

pam's flowers

After dinner, my kids went to Halloween Adventure to look for costumes for the parties they’re going to on Saturday. Corinne came home with this getup, then I realized I had some ugly teeth from a few years ago, so gave her them to use. Scarily realistic Amy Winehouse, don’t you think?

I also went to my local Goodwill store yesterday. I picked up three books, a moon and stars wall mirror (part of a Christmas gift), a planter and this old revolving spice rack. (Unfortunately, I didn’t take pictures of it before, but it was sufficiently dirty and well used)  Somewhere online, I saw a picture of a converted spice rack and wanted to do the same. I spray painted the rack itself white (I love my white spray paint!), washed out the bottles and lids, glued some pretty paper to the lids instead of the ugly spice labels and filled them with crafting bits and pieces — doesn’t it look great? I really wish I remembered the site from which I got the idea – her craft room was just wonderful.

make your own font from your handwriting!

Here’s a fun site – you print out a grid to print YOUR handwriting to, then scan and upload and voila! A font in YOUR own hand!

Go check it out!
www.fontcapture.com

aaahhhhh October

The best month of the year! Not only because it is my birthday month, but because the air is crisp and brisk, the sky is blue, there is NO humidity.

Oh, and halloween is this month – my favorite holiday!

I’m still out of work (coming up on a year on the 31st, ack!) but I’m surviving. Not living, but surviving lol.

I have used the time off to enjoy reading, cross stitching, watching movies and tv, etc ….. maybe boring to someone who always has to be on the go, but for me, it’s heavenly.  I’m a huge homebody, and this is like extended maternity leave, only my kids are old enough to talk to and enjoy and do things with!

I’ve started organizing my xs magazines …. I am happy with the outcome. I bought a bunch of magazine files at Ikea (who doesn’t love Ikea?) and here is the end result:

Sorry for the sideways pic! But anyhow, it’s looking good and I can find what I want now. We’ll talk about my cabinet full of charts another time – that has to be worked on!

I’ve also been feverishly stitching up Halloween designs as well as a few others:

Next up, Thanksgiving stitching!

I acquired a smoke cabinet (whatever that is/was) at a local flea market. The woman wanted 20.00, but I got it for less than 10.00. It’s cute, smallish, and blue (my favorite color) and now resides inside my living room – I intend to use it for holiday displays (small displays of course)

Hope you are all having a fabulous fall!

a good day :)

So my day started by taking a trip to Morgantown with my best friend, her daughter, and mother.  I haven’t been there in two years and I like going – we hit the Super Goodwill store, the Windmill restaurant, a scratch and dent store and a grocery/fabric store (yes, it’s a combo – weird, huh?)

I got a new jacket, pants, a few books, two patio chairs (dirt cheap) and a couple of little presents for Christmas (I like to plan ahead) Then had a delicious chicken parm sandwich for lunch. Then on to the scratch and dent store – nothing much of interest, but I did pick up 7 cover girl eyeliners for a buck a piece, and some foundation also cheap. Hit the grocery store after (I visited the fabric area – be still my heart!) and bought a half yard of some Ronald McDonald fabric (for a R McD cross stitch I’ve been working on forever), two fat quarters of some pretty prints and a few skeins of WDW floss. Whew – good day, right?
I get home and about half hour later, I hear my daughter screaming for me (I’m out back, trying to maneuver the two chairs in a too small doorway) and the fire alarm is shreiking. Good Lord, I almost had a heart attack! She tells me there is smoke in her room – I run upstairs and see it is true, I think the fan must be broken, or the outlet blew, but I can’t find the source of the smoke. After a few minutes, we realize the knucklehead next door is grilling on the teeny tiny little patio out back that we share, and the smoke is coming from there. Jeez, my heart was racing and my hands were shaking for a good fifteen minutes! That is my worst fear – that a fire will break out in my house!

But all’s well that ends well, and there was no fire (thank GOD!)

How was YOUR day?

Some cross stitch I’ve done recently

these are designs I made for myself – I’ve been busy stitching up a storm. I also found a file filled with older patterns I made years ago, I’m working on those as well!

Japanese Rooster

Note to Self

Old Ladies

Sock Monkey

This Too Shall Pass

Toasters

Unlisted Number

sock monkey needlecase

a thoroughly disgusting observation

Did you know that when a cat eats a small mouse, it comes out the same way it went in?
Went to empty the litter box and discovered this truth.
Can you say it with me? EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

What a week

Well Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans (hey, I sounded like the president lol)
It’s been a week …. I lost my job AGAIN! (don’t laugh, I know you want to, but don’t!) I was laid off in November but called back one day a week in March. They let me go again on Thursday, said I wasn’t needed any longer. Sigh. The story of my life.

Thursday was also my mom’s birthday. She would have been 81 years old. (Hard to imagine) She passed on Dec 12, 1990, and I miss her every day still.

Then yesterday, my sister told me she had to have her appendix removed. Turns out when they went in this morning, it was so inflamed and infected that it affected a portion of her colon, which also had to be removed. Good Lord, that was scary. We expected her in and out of the OR, and 3 hours later, we’re told she’s going to ICU, but no details forthcoming at that point. Sheesh.
But she’s alright, everything went well, she’s alert and talking, so I know she’ll be ok.

And finally, there is a family of birds living (once again) in my son’s bedroom ceiling. There must be a small opening in the bricks at the top of the house, and unfortunately, we can’t get to it from inside as the closet has been rebuilt. (It’d have to be torn down to get to the point of entrance)
Anyhow, so far today there have been two sparrows frolicking in MY room! (One we managed to let out the window) The other one is still hiding behind my furniture. Meanwhile, I hear a constant chirping in his ceiling (it’s a dropped ceiling) and when I lifted up the panel, I see a little beak come out looking for food. How sad … it’s a baby and it’s mother is no longer in there with it   (And the cat is VERY interested in the chirping, he hasn’t moved from his spot on the floor in several hours) Ack! What to do, what to do? I don’t want to put it outside, it won’t survive, but if I leave it, it will most likely die!

So there’s been my exciting weekend … I’m now off to resume watching the Twilight Zone marathon and cross stitch some more.
Have a safe night!

First and most importantly (to me) ….

My baby GRADUATED today! I LOVE YOU CORINNE!

Above is Corinne (and her boyfriend, Tom) and my son (her brother) EJ.
I’m so thrilled for her accomplishments, and I’m so proud of her <3

In other news, lookee at the goodies I’ve acquired over the past few months (flea market, thrift stores, etc) Aren’t they cute!?

I’m still looking for a full time job, but luckily, my unemployment benefits were extended, so I’m not living in a cardboard box just yet!

I hope you all have a happy weekend

my first thrifting love — PYREX!

While there are still SO many other patterns I covet (the dots for instance, and stripes), I have amassed quite a collection of Pyrex.  They tend to be so inexpensive that I just can’t pass them up when I see them.
On Saturday, my daughter asked me to take her to the thrift store (be still my heart!) and what to my wondering eyes should appear but TWO yellow pieces! The biggest mixing bowl in yellow, which I didn’t have, and a lidded rectangular piece. OHMYGOSH, I was thrilled, it was well worth taking her there just for those two!
Here’s my collection so far – and still I am on the hunt for more!

yay! crazy cat is alive and well!

I know, that means nothing to you, lol.
There is a stray cat I have encountered frequently when I walk my dog.
He lives in someone’s yard, beneath their deck – he makes a little nest in the dry leaves and usually hisses and spits at my dog, and rarely would allow me to get near him (although I tried, a lot!)

Finally one day, he allowed me to pet him. He then bit me and drew blood, but it was a start. He trusted me! I bought some small, single serve things of food and treats for him to lure him into liking me – and it worked! Oh he’d still hiss at the dog and try to kill him through the fence (meanwhile, the dog only wanted to play with him) but he let me touch him and rub his fur.

Well, I haven’t seen him for over a week and I was afraid he got hit by a car and had died. (It happens around here – people don’t care about their animals, set them free to survive on their own, and invariably you’ll see dead cats in the street … very sad)

I had seen something smooshed in the middle of the street, but thought it might be a possum – I couldn’t be sure. So I was sad to think Crazy Cat was gone I stopped bringing food with me to feed him.

I brought Augie for a walk tonight, and there he was! Crazy Cat – alive and well! After I walked him, I went home, got a can of food and went back to feed him — he was thrilled with my gift. I got to pet him for about 3 minutes and was very pleased. I left him to enjoy the food and went home smiling.

My crazy cat is ok — whew!