Oh, My Aching Back!

I injured my back when I was in my mid-20's.  As a result, I periodically suffer from muscle spasms and back pain.  Since I started exercising regularly, these times don't happen as often, but I'm just "lucky" this week, I guess.  It started last Friday and by Tuesday I was feeling a little better so stubborn me decided to get back to my normal activities and exercising.  Not a good idea bc I've been paying for it ever since then.  I'm starting to improve by being more careful now and I know I'll be back to (my) normal before long.  It's definitely not "my first rodeo".

About the only good thing about these "bouts" is that it gives me lots of stitching time on the couch with the heating pad.  I'm making good progress on a model and was able to take some time out from it to stitch this little guy by Redbird Designs:

...and this little gem by Homespun Elegance that appears in the 2013 JCS Ornament issue:

This one will be mailed away for a block exchange but I like it so much, I might stitch it again to keep.

...and speaking of model stitching, I think one that I stitched is about to be revealed.  I'll post about it when it happens.

Our daughter and son-in-law found a house, bid on it, and their bid was accepted.  They've already had the inspection and will close later this month.  I saw pictures of it on the realtor's website except for the "Grandma Room" but I hear "my" room is very nice and has its own full bathroom...sans heater.  lol!  DD assures me they'll have a space heater in there for us when we visit...but I don't really care as long as it has hot water.  I'm so pleased that everything seems to be going so smoothly for them and they'll be moved in and settled before the baby arrives next spring.

I haven't done much at all of cooking this week because of my back pain.  We've been raiding the freezer of meals and have been eating pretty well.  I think we both like this new system where we prepare a full recipe of a dish and then freeze enough for a later meal.  It's come in quite handy many times already.

Happy stitching!

A Finish and Some Progress

This is one of Redbird Designs' Monthly Minis that I stitched for a Winter-themed exchange block.  It's the second time I've stitched it and yet I haven't stitched one for myself.  lol!  I'll have to fix that soon.  I used the tiny horseshoe charm for the first one I gave away.  I couldn't find another charm (and the star button I have in my stash is too big) but I think he looks good the way he is.

I also made a little progress on La D Da's Wicked Witch.  I'm back to model stitching now so I set this one aside until I finish the model (or take a little break from it).  I hope to finish it in plenty of time to display it for next Halloween.

Happy stitching!

First Friday of Spring

Hi, fellow bloggers!

Yesterday was DH's birthday so I asked him what he'd like to have for dinner...thinking it would be the typical grilled steak, baked potato, etc.  Instead he went through our collection of Cooking Light magazines and came up with 5 possibilities.  I ended up choosing Risotto Primavera.  Aside from deciding and finding which veggies I wanted to use and all the peeling and dicing, it was a pretty easy recipe.  I'm not a big goat cheese fan but used it anyway (it called for goat and Parm cheese) and it had just a hint of that flavor...I really liked it in this recipe.  The guys really liked this too so I'll be sure to make it again.

He prefers pies over cakes so I made him an apple pie.  Instead of rolling the crust, I make a crumb crust that you press into the pie plate...you use the same mixture to crumble over the top.  Yum!

When we visited a LNS last month while visiting DS at college, he picked out a design with TX wildflowers that he'd like me to stitch for him.  I kitted it up in time for his birthday but it might not be finished until next birthday.  lol!

I'm a little sad this am.  My walking buddy is moving far enough away that we can't do our daily weekday walks anymore.  Today's my first day without her and I just couldn't bring myself to do the walk.  Instead I'm reflecting over how blessed I've been to have enjoyed walking with her for so long.  In addition to "keeping me honest" we talked about many various topics during all those miles.  I'll get going again...with my ipod....Monday. 

On the stitching front, I recently won 2 drawings which arrived this week.  It felt like Christmas again!  The first is a Primitive Needle design called "Follow Me".  Every time I think of these designs, I'm reminded of Lisa Roswell's tragic death.  We certainly lost a talented designer.  Thanks, Mamacat!

The other prize blew me away!  It was a bloggoverary drawing from http://morethanjustcrossstitchin.blogspot.com/ .  All I can say is Wow!! And thank you, of course.

I've been diligently stitching a  cute model from Country Cottage Needleworks and am on the home stretch.  It's a good thing b/c another model arrived from Little House Needleworks.  The LHN looks to be another "winner" too.  :-)  I love that I stitch for them since I love their designs.

I also finished a little Santa from Redbird Designs called "Joy Y'all".  He's for a block exchane in one of my groups but I love him so much, I'll stitch another one for us.  I may stitch him for my kids too.  We'll see.

I see I failed miserably at keeping this post brief.  Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week.

Ahhhh! Spring Break

I love our life with all our kids' activities and doing a little traveling but once in a while it's nice to just hang out at home with nothing special to do.  Our 2 younger kids are both on spring break this week and it's been a "hang out" week.  I've gotten into a little reorganizing, cleaning but also enjoyed a having a little more time to stitch.

Our college DS mentioned that they may be doing an Italian food cook-off for his Italian class so he and DH experimented in the kitchen making struffoli.  (I'm sure I butchered the spelling.  Ha!)  I teased them about how nice it was for father to be passing along his cooking skills to his son.

Here's the tasty result:

I've made a lot of progress on a new CCN model but can't show it here.  However, I can show you a few wips.

First off:

Ride a Bike by LK.  DD is "into" bicycling lately sometimes going on group long distance rides on the weekends and sometimes biking to work so when I saw this one, I just had to stitch it up for her.  I'm waiting on a couple more overdyes and a button to arrive to get back to this one.

I'm working on this  Redbird Designs Santa for a Santa themed block exchange in one of my groups  I'm waiting on another overdyed floss to arrive before stitching his cowboy hat:

Finally, I saw this freebie (tantes zolder???) stitched up and made into one of those little pillows with Christmas fabric and lace, if I remember correctly.  As soon as I saw it finished up, I knew I had to stitch him:

I've been cooking more this week to "fatten up" our college DS.  We're doing our St. Pat's meal tonight since he's going back to his school apartment tomorrow.  I made sure to buy some "fixin's" for Reubens for Saturday.  I don't know what I like best, the St. Pat's meal or the Reubens the next day.  I just know I'll have to get back to our normal menus after all this food this past week!  (Or start running marathons.....every day!)