Are you kidding me?????

It is this time of year where I have no patience for the idiots I have to deal with in the city government. Vernon just came into the office with a red "Stop Work" order sign that the city put on my home today. I said to Vernon what the hell is this for, we didn't put on new stairs or railings." (Obviously I have a short memory) Vernon reminded me that he and John added the new configured steps and put a short wall around the porch to give me more privacy in the summer.....back in January! The job is finished so of course we are complying with the sign since there is no more work to be done, we won't be doing any. Now really people...why would the idiot who took the time to put it there even go there. The steps are completed, the wall around the porch was painted and I've been using it since before the first snow. He just noticed now we didn't get a permit to do it? Why, because he wouldn't come out of his office in the cold of winter. Now that the sun's hitting 70 degrees he finally came out to walk the streets and see what he can complain about. I'm telling you ...idiots...that's what I'm dealing with. Honestly, it's all I can do not to march down to City Hall and give them a piece of my mind. I think I'll postpone that since I had a Bloody Mary for lunch. I hope your day is going better than mine! I called a company to order 70 of something for the spring retreat only to find they had 14 in stock with no more in sight! Crap...back to the drawing board.

O.K., who's the smartass....

I often forget that people put comments on the blog, and then I'll remember and go through a month's worth of blogs comments...by the way, thank you for your comments. It's always nice to see people are reading the blog. But as I'm going through them today I come to a comment that is an add for of all things.....are you ready ......"A Penis enlargement." While many people say I have "balls", a penis...well, not only do I not have one, I don't want one. How the hell did this get on my blog...and now...how do I remove it. I need an exorcism...of the penis comment!

Anyway, for everyone but the person who put this on my blog, thanks so much for listening to my rants, for commenting on my stitching and my blog. I enjoy it and it does give me a way to get out my frustration...which I know isn't the point of a blog, but I use what I have.

Have a great day! If you need or want a penis enlargement you can get all the info off my blog comments. I guess I can now say my blog is a public service announcement. Whoopee!!!

I've been busy stitching....

As busy as I am trying to get the hotel open, and working in the shops, and fighting off people trying to break into my house, I've still managed to find the time to stitch. As a New Year's resolution, I promised myself I'd work on UFO's this year. I've been busy bringing out UFO's and getting to work on them, and trying to finish a few. To reward (we all need rewards) my good work with the UFO's I've given myself permission to also work on new projects...but each night before the new piece gets worked on I make myself work for a couple of hours on something already started. So...having said all that, I've finished the Drawn Thread alphabet sampler...which I loved working on. (Please excuse the fact that an iron never touched these pieces before I showed them...I left my iron at the hotel during the Jane Timmers weekend and haven't bothered to bring it home yet...I figure if it's not here I don't have to iron). The amount of stitches to try is wonderful and makes stitching this a wonderful experience. I'm glad I found it in a tote and pulled it out. While there are stitches I hope never to see again, there were many that were a joy to stitch. All I have left is adding the few charms as embellishment. While working on that I also finished the Little Houseworks ornament, "Snowy Pines." I stitched this over one and had fun with it but I think perhaps it's a bit small finished, although I love it small, but I think the first two were a tad larger. I must have used a smaller count this time. I'm grabbing fabrics on hand instead of working on the 30 ct. called for. I love it anyway! Then I pulled out Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. I absolutely love this one, but the changes are driving me crazy. While I have gotten better at choosing fibers, the design aspects are more difficult. Thankfully most of the design aspects I'm changing just have to be left out...but the moon is proving to be more difficult. I want the moon in there, I just don't like the way it was done, so that I'm trying to change it to suit me. I've also run into problems with the color chosen as I'm not sure it shows up enough. Anyway, I spent 2 hours on it last night and should finish the lettering on the block tonight and then I'll have to figure out the moon so I can move on. But I love this piece so I can't wait to finish it. At the same time I started the new series, "Libertyville" (released in Nashville) "Home from Sea" by Raise the Roof Designs. If it's sea related or patriotic, I'm on it. So far we've only received the first 2 pieces so right now I'm up to date. (I was also up to date with Drawn Threads Alpabet Sampler before I put it away for 4 or 5 years...I'm hoping I do better with this one.) Anyway, it's always good to be on top of these things. And last night I needed a break from Shores and pulled out Just Nan's "Sirens of the Sea." Loving it. I adore Just Nan pieces as she using both over one and over two stitching on a piece and that makes for a delicate and interesting sampler. She does use a lot of color changes, but that's what makes it so gorgeous in the end. Anyway, I've only completed a small part of this but know I'm going to love every stitch. So I'm really pleased with my progress on all stitching....I can't wait to get home at night just to stitch. That's the advantage of living alone...no one to interrupt you or require anything from you....yeah, that's a real advantage to a any stitcher. We are busy in the shop getting ready for the Retreat. Renee and Pat have been extremely busy rearranging things and they've done such a beautiful job. Renee is somewhat of a neat freak....and the "new rack" has always bugged her because so many little charts were hanging off of it. I agreed, but hadn't figured out a solution...well Renee asked for the "boys" to come in and help her and they managed to turn in the 3 displays in the front to a place to hang all the little chart packs, etc. that use to live on the new rack. It really did neaten things up. Plus she then worked on the Halloween area and cleaned that up. Oh, we're almost ready for you stitchers...now if I can just keep Renee and Connie from killing each other we're be set! Well, as usual I'm waiting for goodie bag stuff. This is getting harder and harder. Finding the container I called a "Goodie Bag" is becoming increasingly more difficult to find. While I loved the "Bag" that was given at Jane Timmers, I just don't feel I can use the same bag twice so it makes it harder to deal with. I need separate "Goodie Bag" bags for at least 3 events a year. I usually find one I love and then struggle. I've struggled, finally gave up and had one done, but now I'm having to find stuff to put in it. Yes, I'm in Goodie bag hell for now.

Have a great day while I go Goodie bag shopping. The sun is out today and while it's a bit chilly, 50's it is suppose to warm up this afternoon and for the weekend it's suppose to be in the 70's. Thank God! Won't be long before I'm bitching about the heat. Bring it on...I'm sick and tired of the cold.

A good night it wasn't.................

Let me start my tale of woe by saying, I've lived alone for the last 9 years and I've loved it...can't say enough about how much I've loved it. I've never been afraid. But since childhood I have always tried to have a plan, just in case. For instance, when I cross a high bridge (I am afraid of heights) I plan my exit strategy all the way to the top at which point I just pray nothing happens as I have no exit strategy for really high points...it will be death I'm certain. Anyway, when I have to think about night plans my only plan if someone broke into my house was to act like I was asleep and hope they ignored me...great plan..no actually it's not but it's kept me going for 61 years until 2 nights ago. All the lights were out in my living room, I was laying on the sofa watching T.V. as I was having a problem going to sleep (not uncommon this time of year due to the stress of getting the hotel up and open). As I lay there I heard noises but every time I muted the T.V. there was nothing. At first I thought it was coming from upstairs and wondered what they hell they were doing at 2:00 a.m. but each time it stopped I figured it was over. But at some point I decided that it wasn't upstairs but outside my apartment. I turned my head just a little and could see someone trying to get my window up and open. I jumped up (so much for playing dead), turned on the light, walked over to my window and said, "Hey, I see you now get the hell off my property". (apparently I completely forgot my exit strategy). While I could have gone outside and gone for help as he was at the side window, I just figured what the hell I'm inside and he's out. So I'm standing at the window yelling at him, he's looking at me, shrugs his shoulder and then started slamming into my side door trying to break it down. (Frankly it's surprising that he didn't accomplish that.) Anyway, at this point I yelled I'm calling the police and called 911. (For future reference, plug in the police emergency number into your cell as 911 isn't that hot! She kept asking me for the same information which I told her carefully so I wouldn't have to repeat myself and the process would move faster, but apparently that wasn't part of her plan since she continually asked me the same questions over and over. Finally while still answering questions, I did see a police car go by...and down the alley, no lights or siren. I decided the only way to handle this was go outside so when he came by again I would just wave him down. Dispatch was telling him he rode by the house (and what do we have numbers on our building for...plus at this time of year I'm the only one with lights on...duh). The next minute here came 6 police cars...still no sirens or lights, but cars at least. Obviously not much going on at the moment. By this time the poor idiot was gone but I showed the officers where he tried to break in...he broke the railing off the porch plus left his one flip flop on the steps. As I'm explaining to them for the 4th time exactly what went on plus a perfect description since I was inches away from him and there was light I heard someone scream..."We Got Him." So I said, well if we're done I'm going back in. Yeah, right like they were done with me. After another hour in which I said what happened for the 8th time, I then had to write what happened for the 9th time, after which I had to I.D. the guy and then I went back in where I was then fully awake until 5:30 a.m. Needless to say, I was late for work. And unless they strike a deal I have to go to court over this...I'm hoping they strike a deal. I really feel he was higher than a Georgia pine on alcohol or drugs and once off them he will see the error of his way. I also apparently wasn't afraid of him regardless of the tattoos (I find them a little scary when there are so many...and he had tattoo sleeves on both arms. Plus he had a black t-shirt with a skull in the middle). I'm sure he is a pussycat though and all his neighbors and priest will vouch for him! I just don't want to find out. Keep off my property. And that stitchers is how I spent my night. Hope you night went better. It's always a fun time in Ocean City, especially now and through the summer. I still remember the Mexican man who stole a carpet cleaning van with hoses hanging out of the back and came down Baltimore Ave. the wrong way until he lost control and plowed into my building....all around 2a.m. That seems to be the magic hour for me. My building seems to be the magnet for every jackass in the area....in fact I think it must be on a bulletin board somewhere in the city...FOR A FUN TIME TONIGHT GO BOTHER SALLY. If you see that message anywhere please erase it or take it down. These people are wearing me out.

Jane Timmers Class ....very successful!

Our Jane Timmer's class was certainly a hit. We all arrived for class Friday
night with our pre-stitching done and ready to work. We began by finishing
the inside of the box by lining it. We were able to pick our boxes which had most states available for an Americana box that was gorgeous. The boxes were a real treat...thank you Jane. Also, thank you Jane for actually doing the finish work on my (used as her model while she finished it), so while I didn't actually do the work, I watched carefully so I'll be able to do it next time. Learning techniques is so important and so worth the work. This was so easy we also had time to finish the pinkeep. So in 3 hours Friday night we had 2 pieces of the project finished....Whoppee!!! Saturday morning we gathered in the lobby again (we decided to fore go the classroom and sit comfortably in the lobby for class)...and began the finishing of the needlebook. This was more of a project as inside the needlebook we had a needlepage and on the other side we had a scissor sheath. (To the right....That's Ellen and Beth showing off their finished pinkeeps) I have to say a big Thank You to Jane who manned the sewing machine so we didn't actually have to attach the pieces to the lining of the needlebook. What also made these pieces interesting was the different way people finished them. Stasi Buhrman decided to fore go the sewing machine for hand stitching and stitched her pieces to the lining using cross stitches. Made it cute and different from the rest. (Picture...Mary and Diane checking out my needlerolls which fascinate everyone while Theresa is taking pictures...made for me by Kay and Debbie) Staci inspired me to stitch over the machine stitching using a blanket stitch. I was not inspired enough however, to go over the stitching on the scissor sheath. Sometime you just want to move on. Anyway, we got our needlebooks done on Saturday and we knew then we were all going home with our projects completely finished. Sunday morning we gathered again, perhaps not as perky but certainly ready for action. (Picture...Theresa made it impossible for me to get her face in the picture so I took another side of her which is also a good side). We made our tape measure pouches with a gusset, lined them and then came the hard part....what to use as a closure. We all had a button to use as a finish, and one table decided to fore go the button and used ribbon someone had to finish all of theirs. Theresa Wood's group used the button with a twisted cord to make the loop. (Picture...Linda, Candi, Kay, Kathie and Jennifer) My group decided to use a button and make a hedabo loop to close. You can't imagine the thrill, unless of course you too have gone home with a finished project. Anyway, we were all thrilled. So...thank you ladies for such a wonderful time. It was the first class I've taken with our groups....I'm usually busy getting things done, but this time I couldn't resist. (Picture...Kay, Molly, Sandy and Joan) And I was more excited than anyone to bring it home finished. I haven't actually finished one class I've taken elsewhere. I hope to some day, but so far nothing. So I've been opening and closing the box since the class and patting myself on the back.
(Picture...Stasi, Debbie, Jane, and Lois) It was truly a wonderful weekend, the sun was shining part of the weekend so the stitchers were able to get out and walk if they wanted to. And
Saturday night Sara provided some of the deserts we enjoyed and Linda Wimbrow supplied the peanut butter balls and the eclair cake (yummo)...so thanks to both of them for making the event so sweet.



(Picture...Debbie, Sara in her P.J's and Sherry enjoying end of day wine tasting)


On Sunday, Greg showed up and can be seen modeling the baby cap he finished for his first grandchild due in a few months. (Picture....Debbie, Staci, Lois and Jane) He has been so busy finishing things for this baby....what a lucky little boy this is going to be. (Picture... Greg modeling his cap & Janie Mae)

Found this picture of Theresa....in front of the door along with Diane and Mary





And here's my stitching buddy Phyllis and members of my group, Stasi and Debbie at the ironing station.





Thanks to the participants, Jane Timmer, Linda Wimbrow for her desserts and the stitchers who helped restitch Kay Fletchers missing pieces so she could participate in the class. Great weekend.