Empty Nest for a second time.....

We enjoyed having our oldest DS here with us again for about 3 weeks but the time came Wednesday for him to board that plane for Denmark.  All of the sudden the house got very quiet again.  We miss him but are very excited for this new chapter in his life and his adventure living in Denmark for 2-3 years.  Maybe we'll even get to visit.

When we asked him what kind of food he'd miss, he said Tex Mex so I took him out for Tex Mex lunches a couple of times while he was here.

Now we're looking ahead to Thanksgiving when our other 2 sons, our daughter, and her boyfriend are here.

I won the Great Turkey Debate (roasted or fried) without even trying.  Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!!  I prefer roasted (and it's so much less of a mess) but DH loves them fried so much that he thinks EVERYONE should love it that way.  I'd pretty much given in until talking to DD on the phone Sunday.  It hadn't occurred to anyone that we fry the bird in peanut oil.  Her boyfriend is allergic to peanuts.  (It's probably bad form to give him anaphylaxis on his first visit here.)  Now it may be OK to use another type oil, but the bird will be roasted this year.  Yes!!!!!  I was texting about it to my youngest son a few days later and he said he really prefers roast turkey over fried anyway.  (He said he didn't think Dad paid attention to him when he said it.....I know what he means.  ;-)

My DH and the turkey reminds me of the father on The Christmas Story.  Maybe next year, honey!

I caught a monster cold this week and haven't felt like doing much of anything.  I'm finally feeling almost human but still tire out (or start coughing) after just a little activity.  I'm going to be better tomorrow, though.  My stitching group is getting together tomorrow at a friend's house.  The food theme is Thanksgiving so I baked a couple of pumpkin pies to take.  I was lazy and let Pillsbury do the crusts.

Stitching:  I didn't get done nearly what I would have liked (monster cold!) but worked a bit more on PS Woodland Santa:

I also finally started CCN's Silent Night this week:

I hope to get some progress done on those next week along with a couple of models.  Oh!  And hopefully I'll get LHN's Elizabeth Hancock on the stretcher bars and start.  I've been wanting to start "her" for a long time.

Happy stitching!

My Dwelling Place and a "Wee" start

I've been working on a (top secret and VERY cute!) model that's taking my stitching priority this week but I also made a little progress on LHN's My Dwelling Place:

...and made a wee start on HIH's Wee Vegetables:

 This one is for a quilt square donation and it's requested that I don't use overdyes.  I'm using several shades of DMC in random lengths  instead of stitching the veggies in all one color (boring!).  Hopefully I'll get the "look" I'm going for.

I'm finding myself in the mood to stitch something with a Halloween theme so maybe once the model is finished, I might add something like that to the "rotation".

It continues to be really hot and humid here.  I walked 4 mornings this week...about 3 miles.  I missed this morning's walk bc  the AC guy was supposed to be here "first thing this morning".  He called with some "emergency"  (I've heard this story before.  It's one of the reasons we've been waiting since mid April to have this job completed.  Ugh!)  You know how it's said that you should use local businesses because, since they're local, they care more about getting the job done promptly and correctly.  Not always the case as this demonstrates.  A few years ago we spent a ton of money with them completely redoing our heating, cooling and venting system.  You'd have thought they'd show their gratitude by providing good service but....Well you get the idea.  The only reason we've stuck with them this far is because there's a slight chance that there's a small crack in the equipment that's still under warranty.  Once we get this figured out, we'll probably go with another company in the future.

Oh well....while waiting for the guy this am, I cleaned 4 ceiling fans and did some vacuuming.  I can do some more vacuuming while waiting for him to get here....if he ever does.  Grrrrrrr!

We're still making progress on the dorm shopping.  This week we added a new bike and wireless printer/scanner to the pile.  (Hey!  I want one of those wireless printers/scanners.)

Between work and seeing friends, DS is gone a lot.  As he was leaving for lunch with some friends the other day, I suggested he and I make a lunch date before he leaves.  It's amazing how quickly this time is passing for DH and me.  It's still too slow for DS.  He's SO excited!  (...as he should be.)

I have an outing tomorrow.  I'm driving to a friend's house near Houston for a stitchers' get together.  There are several "regulars" and a few once-in-a-whiles who come to these.  We always have fun!  We always have a theme for the food. Apparently this one falls near or on Jimmy Dean's birthday so the theme is Sausage.  (I wonder when Oscar Meyer's birthday is but, wait!  We already had a bacon them.)  I'm making sausage balls to take.

Until next time......Happy Stitching!