WIP

I know it's early, but I don't anticipate anything of interest happening today.  My kids are being well behaved, the dogs are relatively lazy (haven't budged in a couple hours), and my house is already clean.  SO...I have a WIP of my daughter's birth record.

Two more sections to go!  I'm probably going to work on it for a bit today and who knows what else?  Oh right, I just ordered THIS.  I have a thing for ships and light houses.  Which is weird because I'm terrified of boats...

Off to work on the birth record some more.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Prize Candle Review!

What is it called when you're faced with the devastation that a series is over?  Not just over in general, but like that sadness you feel when you've been binge watching a show and now you're all caught up or that you hit the series finale, so there's no more to watch?  I'm about to get to that point with the show Fringe as I'm almost through the series.  WHAT AM I GOING TO WATCH NOW!?

Dr. Who?  I suppose.  Netflix did just add a new season that I need to watch before I watch the newest episode that just came out.  But then what?  What do I do after that?  What will I watch?  THIS IS A CRISIS!

Lol I'm in a good mood right now.  My husband and I have a new deal:  We have these faux leather couches and because of where we live, the air is really dry which causes the leather to start cracking.  My husband notices the cracks and starts picking at the leather.  Now my couches are extremely ratty and horrible looking because of all the picking he's done.  They're bad enough that I'm embarrassed to have company.  I would rather a stain on the couch than what he's done.  So the deal is that for every 2 times I catch him picking leather, I get to order a new cross stitch supply.  No matter the cost.  Since we struck this deal, I've got 4 new kits and he's slowed WAY down on picking at the couch.

My husband will tell you that I really don't ask for much.  Ever.  I may say something like, "ERMAHGERD I NEED THIS THING BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME!" (paraphrased) but it's not that I really need or even want it, I'm just saying it because it's something I think is cool or interesting.  I'm just a bit dramatic is all.  That's why my husband was okay with the deal, I think.  He told me, "Now shopping for you is easy.  All I have to do is pick the couch."  Jerk...

Alright, done rambling...on to the review!

My friend sent me a thing for my birthday!

Because the package had sat in my mailbox all day and I live in the desert, it was already half melted which allowed me to smell the candle before I even opened it.  I opened my mailbox and this faint, fragrant, and very lovely scent came wafting out.  I wasn't sure what to expect, honestly, as I didn't even know I was getting a prize candle.

I pulled the package out of the mailbox and immediately realized something.  It feels as if it's been crushed.  I could feel the candle moving around in the package, so I assumed it was either shipped without it's box or it had been man-handled into my mailbox (the more likely of the two options).

I walked back home from my mailbox sniffing the package as I walked, wondering what was inside.  Was it perfume?  No...she wouldn't have sent me a bottle that big.  Was it soap or a sugar scrub?  Maybe, but if I can smell it through the package, it has probably leaked everywhere.  If you read the title, you'll know it was a candle.

I opened the package in my kitchen after offering it to my husband to sniff (gotta share the smells).

I was right in that the candle and the box were separated.  So instead of getting a picture of the candle in the box, I took a picture of the box!

Cute little box...like it's candy!

The picture was centered, I swear, but as I took the picture, the top flap of the box sprung up.  So I left it.  

The texture of the candle was a soft, soy wax.  I am not sure if soy wax is always soft as I've never owned a soy candle before, but it could also be that it sat in my mailbox all day and I live in the desert.  The smell...oh, the smell!  What a wonderful scent!  I've never owned anything fig scented at all and this particular candle is Adriatic Fig scented.  Not sure what that is, but I would wear this as a perfume!

This white candle was a little beat up, but I lit it right away anyway.  I actually didn't get a picture before I lit it because I forgot, but here's what it looked like after burning for a while:

Kinda plain Jane.

The picture doesn't really do the candle any justice.  It looks super messy, but it doesn't look like that in person.  I blame the camera.  Ah well.  I have come to notice that the candle smells nicer when lit.  What I mean by that is the scent is a lot stronger when it is NOT lit.  Almost like burning it diffuses the scent a little bit.

After a couple hours of burning, I checked on the candle to see if I could see my "prize."  Sure enough, it was burned down far enough that I could reach it.  So I got out some needle nose pliers and wiggled the tiny item out of the wax.  I cleaned off the plastic, pried it open, and pulled out the little plastic baggie that was inside.

I opened up the baggie and this is what my prize was:

Just my style!

Absolutely adorable!  In the little pack was a slip of paper with a code on it so that I could get an instant appraisal on the value of my ring.  So I went to the site and it says that the value can be from $10 to $5,000.  Hoping for big bucks, I punched in the code for my appraisal and........it is worth $10.  Whatever, though, I love the ring the same!  It's very cute and fits perfectly.

I would definitely recommend this "Cracker Jacks for adults" product to anyone who wants to have a little fun.  The price of the candle itself is $24.99 plus shipping and with scents like "Vanilla Chai" and "Antique Leather" I will definitely be buying a couple for myself.  If you would like your own prize candle just visit their website HERE!

*****NOTICE*****  I am not an owner, a partner, or getting paid to review this.  I just wanted to review it in case any readers are curious!

People Disgust Me

I just read a forum topic about a "man" who says he feels justified about cheating on his wife.  His reasoning?  She's pregnant and he doesn't find her attractive.  Why would you get her pregnant in the first place if it's so unattractive?  People infuriate me.

Anyway, off that because I'm getting irritated all over again.

I've been mopey and depressed the last few days and I couldn't figure out what's causing it.  Then, it dawned on me...well...it dawned on my husband.  I thought I might be pregnant and with the limited resources of where I live, I had to wait a few days for a pregnancy test.  By the time I actually got to take a test, I had already kind of started getting excited.  I think that's why I'm blue.  I think I have baby fever!  Lord, help me.

Y'all aren't interested in that, though.  I have a WIP!  The second little fairy is done :)

About halfway done!  I'm already stitching the next part.  I'm hoping to have this done in the next couple weeks because I really want to get working on that Peacock kit again.  Page 3 here I come!  lol

Happy stitching, everyone!

Long Day

Have you ever had one of those days where you're just blue?  It happened to me today and it was just out of nowhere.  Suddenly my anxiety spiked and everything was just wrong.  I sat in the bathroom crying for twenty minutes and when I was done, I got on Facebook only to see that my best friend who lives 2000 miles away had an anxiety attack at the exact same time.

Weird stuff like that always happens with us, though.  Before I had kids (and got chubby), her and I looked identical as well.  Hell, her name is Keri and mine is Kari.  It's that crazy.  Weird to think that even as far away as we are, our emotions are still that in tune.  I don't know why that is.

We have these weird things that happen with us all the time.  Coincidences, I know, but they're still really strange nonetheless.  The strangest thing that happens is when we're talking, if one of us brings up a person that we've either not talked to in a long time (months or years even) or someone that we are concerned about, they always contact us within 24 hours.  Example:  I talked to her a couple days ago about a friend I had in middle school.  I said, "I wonder if she ever got the letters I sent her."  Within a couple hours, the friend I was talking about sent me a message on Facebook that said basically, "Hey, I was going through some old boxes and I found these letters you sent me."  It was strange.  Still is strange.  That happens a LOT.

I'm rambling.  I do that when something really piques my interest.

Anyway, I said I'd have a WIP, yes?  So here you go!

The second little fairy is almost done :)  She should be done sometime tomorrow.  I can't wait to finish this!  I have to pick a frame for it, I'm thinking light green or yellow to bring out one of the minor colors in it.  Pink or purple would be too obvious.  Though, the light orange hoop looks cute and would be a good color for a frame.  Hmm...decisions, decisions.  I'll just have to keep looking.

Happy stitching, everyone.

Loot Crate August 2014

This month's Loot Crate was Heroes themed.  I would just like to start out by saying, though, my son got every item.  He was so excited when I opened up this crate that he almost didn't let me get any pictures.  Grabby little bugger...

And here we go!

Can you guess the first thing my son saw?  If you said, "Groot," then you'd be right.  He went nuts seeing that.  Any guesses what the box's inside is supposed to look like?  Here's a better picture:

That is a 3D diorama of the Ninja Turtles' sewer den.  The little flap in the box folded up to make the couch.  My daughter is using it right now to play with her toys.  Hey, Ninja Turtles is for girls too!

Next, we have:

The top picture is "Shwings" which is a shoelace decoration.  I'm saving that for my son's next pair of shoes.  Next to that is a magnet, and then next to that is the monthly button.  In the bottom picture we have a Ninja Turtles action figure which my son snagged and a Sonic the Hedgehog car air freshener which my husband pilfered.

Last, but not least:

The Groot that made my son squee and a pair of Raphael sunglasses.  My son really loves them and doesn't like when his sister tries to take them.  He wanted to model them for me, so here he is with his sunglasses:

This kid.  I'm glad I bought Loot Crate for ME and ended up giving it all away!  

There was a card to download some games as well, but it just never ended up in any of the pictures I took because...I don't know why!  

If you would like your own Loot Crate, you can get one HERE!

I should have a WIP tomorrow sometime.  In the meantime, happy stitching, everyone!

Big A, little a. What begins with A?

I have this rule in my house:  No matter what I'm doing, if one of my kids brings me a book, we have story time.  Doesn't matter what time of day it is.  Doesn't matter if I'm in the middle of something.  If one or both of my kids brings me a book, I will drop everything and read.  The kids take full advantage of this all the time and I love it.

Story time is something my husband never had as a kid.  His mother always said, "Reading is boring," or, "Reading is stupid."  So he grew up thinking the same thing.  He struggled in school and didn't do well even when he got to college.  Now that he has kids of his own, he said he doesn't want them to feel like reading is boring or stupid because of how much he struggled with it in school.  Even though he hates reading to this day, he still takes time out of his day to read to the kids.

I'm thinking of doing something cheesy for my husband for our anniversary.  I read this on Pinterest and thought it was a cute idea and cheesy-romantic is something he loves.  I am going to get a giant mason jar and I'm going to write down on 100 slips of paper something I love about him.  I think it's something he'll appreciate because I'm not exactly the romantic type.  I tend to be more or less indifferent to the whole romance thing, but I think he sometimes wishes I wasn't like that.  So I'll do something nice for him.

I have a picture to share!  My swap partner finally posted the pictures of the stuff she got!  I can share now the Tina I stitched for her.  This is what I made her:

I also wrote her a recipe for Bob's "If Looks Could Kale" burger and I made her a Lumpy Space Princess inspired sugar scrub that smells like lavender and baby oil.  I thought it smelled nice :)

Nothing more to report for the day!  I'm off to go play some Skyward Sword (my daughter keeps handing me the controller), so happy stitching, everyone!

I guess that's just how it's gotta be

I wonder if my husband intimidates my son.  I've noticed a huge change in his behavior over the last few days without my husband here.  The biggest change is that my son doesn't want to wear diapers anymore but prefers underwear.  My son wears diapers 24/7, but now that my husband's away, he's been wearing underwear with ZERO accidents.

Just an observation.  I might need to talk to him about not being so hard on the poor kid.

Anyway, off that.  I have a WIP of my daughter's birth record today.  I'm halfway done!  Here's last time and this time.

I took that picture last night after I couldn't fall asleep because of my severe head cold.  That being said, both my kids are sleeping, so I think it's time for me to take a nap, too.  I'm exhausted.

Happy stitching, everyone.

August 15th, 2014. Day 2 of no husband in the house...

...I fear the kids are taking over.  The wild three year old is crawling on the back of the couch jabbering in broken English.  The younger female is toddling around pulling things off of shelves.  She screams when she pulls my jar of ORT's, making it fall in a loud clatter.

The house is a mess.  Cheerios are scattered on the floor around the table.  Chicken nuggets from dinner are mushed into the carpet.  I've vacuumed in vain today, it seems.  

The three year old seems to have lost his mind and is screaming.  It sounds as though he is saying, "Fix it, Mommy, fix it."  I believe he's referring to Netflix.  I can't be sure...

Sorry, I'm going a little mental over here lol.  My husband hasn't been home for two days because of work and I am feeling a little overwhelmed!  I have a WIP, though!

I have to go tend to my screaming child.  She got mad at me for setting her down just now because she kept turning the computer off while I was writing this.  Happy stitching, everyone.

My poor son...

My son is three.  That detail is important to this story.

There is a Sesame Street USO show that comes around every once in a while.  Every other year, I believe.  So the first time it came around, my son would have been too young to really appreciate it.  This year, however, he is old enough to understand and to participate.

My kids woke up from their nap today in a relatively good mood.  I got them dressed and while getting my children dressed, I was telling my son about Sesame Street and how we'd be going to go see Elmo.  He was excited.  Really excited.  He put on his shoes, the entire time saying, "Hurry, Mama, hurry!  We have to go bye-byes so we can see 'Emmo.'"  So I hurried.  After everyone had shoes on, I grabbed my wallet and my keys and we walked out the door.

We walked down the stairs to the yard.  Then we turned the corner to see the garage...and my car was missing.  I thought, okay, maybe it's in the garage.  So I tried to open my garage door and it was jammed.  My son and I walked around the garage to the back entrance.  I opened the door and a car is in my garage...but not my car.

My husband took my car to work today.  The car seats are in my car.  The devastation on my son's face when he realized that we couldn't go anywhere was so hard to see.  This poor kid had his little heart broken.  I guess it's what happens when Mommy assumes.

That's what happened today.

I have a WIP!  Again, I did some back stitching, but it was because I was using up the last little bit of a thread I had from a different section.  Also, I already did the French knots because I love doing them and as soon as I can do them, I do lol  So here is where I'm at tonight!

Man, I might take more pictures with my iPad.  Soooo much better than my phone!  

I got word yesterday that my swap partner DID get my package.  I can't remember if I mentioned that or not, so I'm mentioning it now.  Anyway, I'm going to bed and will probably have another good WIP tomorrow.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Robin Williams Revisited

I didn't talk much about Robin Williams in my last post.  I don't think that his death really sunk in, but I thought I should talk a bit more about this today.

Robin Williams was my hero.  He was my idol.  I didn't know the man, I probably would have never had the chance to meet him, but loved him and it feels almost like I lost a good friend.

As a child, he was the one who turned me to voice acting.  I've always, always, always wanted to do that.  He was the Genie.  He was Batty.  He was Lovelace.  He was Fender.  He was always in my house, making me laugh.   He was really like a friend you didn't know you had.

I really am upset by this and I have spent some time crying over it not really understanding why.

Tell your family and friends how much you love them.

Still no word.

I still have not heard from my swap partner.  So if I was fearing the worst after only 24 hours, I'm definitely worried, now.  I'm dying to hear from her!  Hopefully BMH hears back from her soon, I'm panicking lol

On to stuff!

I have a WIP of my daughter's birth record.  It's not very far, still.  I don't think this one is going to take very long.  My son's birth record took less than a month and I have a feeling this one will be even quicker.

My daughter is playing with my pearl filaments right now.  They're wrapped around an index card and inside a sandwich bag, so she's not doing any tangling...but I feel like I need to watch her with them anyway.

Here's where I'm at now:

That mess of thread in the top left corner (is it a corner in a circle??? lol) is actually the thread I'm stitching with currently, it was just still on the needle.

Alright, I would like to take a moment to say how sad I am to see that Robin Williams has passed away today.  He was by far one of my favorite comedians, so I wish his family well.  Rest in peace, my good man, rest in peace.

Birth Record WIP

Well, I finished my second page of my gigantic peacock kit, so here's what I have:

First is the front.

 Then the back.

I have already started on my next project.  I am making my daughter's birth record and this is what I have so far for that:

Don't tell me about the back stitching, I know.  I know you're not supposed to back stitch until the end, but I really, really, REALLY don't want to move the hoop around my work more than I have to when it's not solid stitching.  This one has a lot of aida between stitched things, so I just almost feel like if I move the hoop around it's more damaging to the project.  Probably not, but it's just my process.

Still no word from my swap partner.

Alright, I'm off to deal with my diaper rash baby and then get dinner ready.  My husband is about to go to "The Box" which is slang for the middle of the desert.  So I won't have him home for a couple weeks.  Maybe while he's gone, I'll overhaul our fridge and pantry and get rid of all the bad foods.  I have a 6 pound goal for while he's gone, so hopefully I can lose it.  I know my kids are a-okay with eating fresh fruits and veggies.  

Rambling again...happy stitching, everyone!

I'm So Impatient

I sent my swap partner's gift out a couple days ago.  Yesterday, I checked the tracking and it said that it was delivered.  I hope they actually got it!  I've been stalking SpriteStitch ever since I found out it was delivered and I keep hoping that I'll see a "Got it!" update.  Still no such luck.  Maybe they're busy.  What if it was delivered to the wrong house?  What if it broke?  What if they don't like it?  What if something broke...and the one thing that broke spilled all it's contents onto everything else, ruining the rest of the box??  These are things I need to know lol

Alright, off that.  So I have a WIP of my peacock kit!  After this, my next WIP will be when I finish the page I'm on, but here is where I'm at as of 11 pm last night.

Don't mind my toes in the pictures.  I threw out my back at some point yesterday and so getting a picture without bending a little was challenging.  In hindsight I could have cropped them out, but...I forgot.

I used to throw my back out ALL.  THE.  TIME.  Now, it's once every couple of months.  Thanks, Yoga!  I don't even do it very often (as demonstrated by my lack of muscle definition and my excess of flab definition), but the little I do actually seems to have helped.

I got off track there, sorry.

My Carousel Horses for All Seasons came last night!  I'm excited to stitch them...whenever I do.  My next project between peacock pages is to revisit my daughter's birth record.  I was going to start on that Bambi's First Year, but...that just seems to be my UFO.  Maybe after the next peacock page.

I'm off for now.  The husband is playing video games and his anger is causing me some anxiety, so I'm going to go find something to occupy my time away from him.  Happy stitching, everyone.

Another WIP

I have a WIP, but it doesn't look like much has been done since the last time I wrote.  This is what I have:

I've done a lot of stitching since I took this picture.  I will be done with the page before I post again.  Hopefully that will be soon because I am SOOOOOOO ready to start my daughter's birth record.  I'm just not looking forward to all the confetti stitches in that.  

I sent off my swap partner's gift today :)  I thought it was sent out Friday.  I sent my husband to do it, but later that night I got in my car and the package was still sitting in the passenger seat.  I asked him what happened and he said that the post office was only open from 9-11 in the morning that day.  What was the point of opening if you're only open for two hours?  Ah, well.  It went out today.  

I really hope my swap partner likes it!  Off to go work on my peacock kit.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Teresa Wentzler Collection

I, after three years of searching, have finally found it.  I just ordered the Teresa Wentzler Carousel Horses for All Seasons.  I remember my mother stitching these when I was a kid.  She knew she didn't have the patterns and didn't even know who the designer was.  She had given the actual projects away to friends, so I didn't even have a picture to go on.  I searched for different carousel patterns, narrowing things down to the '80's, and still had no luck.

Then, on a Facebook group, it happened.  Someone posted a picture of a carousel that looked similar to what I was looking for.  I asked them who the designer was and she said, "Teresa Wentzler."  So I looked up the different Teresa Wentzler patterns.  Then I found one of the carousel horses I was looking for.  Then I found another...and I ended up finding all four.

They were discontinued.

I don't know what I expected considering the patterns came out before I was even born.  I figured I could find them on eBay.  I looked and looked, but I couldn't find any that were in good enough condition that I would be able to follow the pattern.  Some of them in very poor condition still selling for more than the cover price.  I decided to go on a whim and search Amazon.

I found the carousels.  A woman on Amazon was selling all four of them for the cover price and the condition was excellent.  This is a picture of what I was looking for.  Hard to believe that "carousel cross stitch" and "cross stitch carousel horses" gave me nothing.

So that shipped this morning and I'm super excited about it :)

I ordered this right before I signed on here:

This is the first time in a long time that I ordered something without letting my husband know I was ordering it.  I've been admiring this one since I found it a few days ago.  I love post cards and I would love to travel.  Adding the monarch was just overkill for me, so I HAD to get it lol.  

Alright, I'm off to go do...something.  Probably trim all my little plants because they're starting to get unruly.  Especially my friggin' dill plant.  Looks like a little bush.  Sorry, rambling.  Happy stitching, everyone!