Good Lord, I'm way too old for all this....

I just got over the May retreat (yes, I do realize we're into the middle of July but I'm going somewhere with this)...and was ready to get back on track when the New York girls blew into town. Pat Ellis, Cindy Salow, Tina Rivellino, Norma Roberts, Roberta Grainer and Ruth Nobel. Well, those wild ladies kept me up each night so by the time they left I was exhausted and back to my, "Good Lord I feel like I'm 90" mood. I challenged Cindy to a stitching duel and that poor woman drove herself insane trying to stitch faster that I stitched. Sara had warned her that I loved a challenged and would sit up all night stitching just to win. What Sara and Cindy didn't take into account was the fact that I was still working on Renee's birthday gift which was due in 2 days. Actually I finished the Erica Michael's acorn fob for her but then decided to add the JABCO Acorn pin cushion as an added gift making it a theme birthday...so I really had to focus on the pin cushion and the Strawberry pretzel salad Renee had requested back in April when she tasted it at the Betsy Morgan weekend. So I was up all night all right, but I was putting the salad together and stitching the pin cushion. When I got into the shop and Tina informed me that Cindy had stitched all night, through the visit to Assateague and through dinner, I said the hell with it and kept working on Renee's gift. So Cindy won the challenge and a pair of Gingher's too boot. Next time Cindy you might not be so lucky so you better be prepared. I let Cindy pick the project and she picked Lizzie Kate's new inspirational boxer" I really enjoyed the stitch even if I did lose the challenge and did end up finishing the piece after Renee's birthday, and as you can see, and I'm now searching for the perfect frame. I'm trying on different frames in the shop. I'm showing it right now sitting on the fabric table with the Eastside Moulding frame on it. Sara's vote is for this frame so it might just be the final one. Anyway, Pat and Roberta were new to the group this year, at least new to coming to Ocean City, but they fit right in. Roberta even took a dive into the Atlantic ocean and fell in love with it. Anyway, I had a great time with the girls and can't thank Cindy enough for taking over in the shop and cutting fabric, answering the phone and taking an order, and acting as the personal shopper for the rest of the group. All I did was sit on my fat butt and we know I've perfected that event. (if that was an Olympic event I'd have the gold medal.) Anyway, thanks all for coming..it was fun. Can't wait to do it all over again next year...but this time I'm coming primed, ready and will get a lot of sleep before you arrive. Add the lack of sleep to the fact that on Saturdays, my only day off, I am Solomon's personal assistant, driver, entertainer, toy buyer and Coco's Palace playmate you can understand I hope why I've gotten behind on blogging. Solomon is my 3 year old grandson and thank God his 16 year old brother takes care of Israel, 18 months now, or I'd have him too...but as it is, I try to give Mary a break on Saturdays (5 days a week he is in daycare) so she can perform her job without him hanging on her, so I know Saturday is my day with Solomon. Coco's Palace is our favorite hangout. I happen to like it too because it is self contained, and last week I took my stitching with me and worked on my Quaker Christmas Row by Bent Creek (loving it). I only look up periodically to make sure he's still with us...my heart stops periodically when I can't find him, but sooner or later his blond curls can be seen coming down a slide. After 3-4 hours there he's tired and hurt because someone has pushed him or ignored him so our new thing is to head to Toys R Us where we head for the super heroes aisle. (this is so foreign to me I can't even begin to tell you.) After paying for some piece of crap that will be broken before I get home with it we head off for Ocean City where we arrive around dinner time, tired, beaten, but satisfied and filled with crap from a day at Coco's Palace eating whatever crap they serve...and trust me none of it is on my diet. I've been able to do better than my first week at Coco's when Sara had to drive me home I was so exhausted. I think last week I went home at 9:00 which is early, but beat the 8:00 the week before. But tomorrow, which is Saturday, is looming with no Solomon. Tomorrow he's headed to Baltimore for an audition. He got the call to audition for an X-man movie so we're keeping our fingers crossed for the little guy...but also realize he is just one of thousands who I am sure are lining up to try out for the same thing. Anyway, that means no Coco'a Palace for me (I think I'd look a little silly if I just showed up there with no child). Michael is back but he's headed out to lacrosse camp...and Izzie has his brother who is paid to look after him in the summer so I am child free....I swear I won't know what to do with myself. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the day off....well I'll still be working but a day off from child care. Although Friday became my day with Solomon as his daycare was closed so we were off to Walmart to find things for him to do on the car ride to Baltimore tomorrow. So I still had my day with him. I hope he has wonderful memories of me...I think he will....especially since he rules and I am here to serve him. Well, it's now Monday morning and I've decided to finish the blog. While I was child free on Saturday, my girls were both wrecks so my children were my problem. Mary was absolutely distraught over not being with Solomon while he was dealing with the audition. Brian rode by the audition spot when he arrived in Baltimore at 10:00 a.m. and saw the line had started to form so he decided they needed to get in line right away. He kept Mary informed about what was happening so he called about every 1/2 hour. Like every man, Brian didn't look in the bag Mary packed and just took Solomon's lunch box so he was missing most of the food, etc. So they were in line with a lack of supplies. When Mary found this out, plus the fact that at some point they moved the line out of the heat and into a room where the noise level went up, she became more distraught as our Solomon has a problem with loud noises and that includes rooms where the noise level is high. So he immediately wanted to leave. Meanwhile the auditions didn't start for some time and they weren't first in line. So Brian was trying to keep him occupied, calm, and engaged and Solomon was slowly breaking down. So I was dealing with Mary breaking down and crying during our first really busy weekend. Fortunately she would be crying, someone would come to the desk, she'd wipe off the tears, straighten up long enough to walk out with a smile on her face and greet the guests, do her job then come back in the office and cry because she felt perhaps Solomon was too young to be put through an audition. But around 3:00 we got the call that it was over and Solomon had done his job well. They got in for their audition and they asked if Solomon had prepared a monologue. He's 3 (well 4 next month) and while I think he's pretty smart..a monologue? When Brian said he didn't have one they asked him to sing a song and he stood on his mark and sang his little heart out. Oh, bless his heart, I can't believe he got through it. Anyway, while we were breathing a sigh of relief that his ordeal was over, my Michael, Sara's 10 year old, was melting down at Lacrosse camp. Vernon took him over to Salisbury University at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday for 3 days of camp. Apparently while he was excited to be there, he hadn't taken into account it was a lacrosse camp and therefore you would actually be required to run around and play lacrosse. So he was calling every half hour crying complaining that he was tired and wanted to come home. So while Mary stopped crying Sara was beside herself worrying about Michael. We really do not need this type of drama on a Weekend in July, but that's life. Anyway, Sunday was Sara's day to be upset while Mary was breathing easily. Sara went over to the university to watch Michael play but his mood continued which just about drove her around the bend. But she was determined he was going to tough it out and stay so she put up with his phone calls about every 1/2 hour all day, at least when he wasn't sleeping or playing lacrosse. Mary on the other hand was over joyed when she received a text from the audition people who informed her that Solomon was being called back along with 2 other boys for a second round of auditions. Because Solomon had such a long day on Saturday I decided to take him to Coco's Palace on Sunday. So I left Sara to deal with Michael and Solomon and I went off for a day at Coco's. We weren't there 1 hour when I noticed Solomon in one of the structures right in front of me screaming. I thought he was playing with other kids and they were holding his feet and not letting him crawl back through so I was thinking, " if those darn kids don't stop messing with him I'm going to have to intervene" when a mother (who was obviously more attuned than I) screamed and dove into the structure and grabbed Solomon who wasn't screaming causing he was having fun, but apparently he was caught and couldn't get free. I, needless to say, felt terrible that I was unable to assess the situation correctly, plus I now had a mother who thought I was incapable of watching any child and I had Solomon who was absolutely distraught. I just knew they were going to take away my grandmother status, as I tried to calm him down and offered to leave to take him home. But he was a trooper and after an ice cream cone he wanted to stay. Believe me after that I was tuned in for any sound that sounded like a distress cry. And at 3:00 I had to pry him away since I had to get back to Ocean City for work at 4:00. I was exhausted! So that's how my life has been going. And since this is suppose to be a shop blog I'll just say a little something shop worthy...I'm working on the Bent Creek Quaker Noel piece and I'm really excited. I love the tray they framed it in and have them coming from Eastside Moulding. The funny thing is I didn't even notice it until Cindy asked me about it. As soon as I saw how they had finished it I grabbed one for my bag and after the inspirational sampler I had to start this one. I'm changing a few colors however, as Sara and I both felt the brown, main color was a little drab for us. So I chose Acorn which is a bit more robust and I have changed the trees at the beginning to Seagreen (I think that's the color on the chart but don't have it with me at the moment) and I didn't like the red in the first large motif so I kept the entire thing brown, although I feel I should have done the middle cross in the gold color. But anyway, I'm loving this piece...I'm all about the Quaker stitch anyway, and I've pulled the other Quaker pieces Bent Creek have designed so I'll start on them next ... perhaps! At home I'm working on the Betsy Morgan chest since we are suppose to start putting this class piece together in the fall. This is a slow go for me since I'm exhausted when I get home and only work on it about 2 hours a day around 5:30 a.m. I'm certainly not as young as I use to be...why I remember when I could sit up until 2 stitching and then get up around 5 and stitch some more...yes, those were the good old days. Good Lord, the next thing you know I'll be talking about 5 cent cokes. I'll end here instead and go eat, another Olympic medal should it ever be a sport for me. Have a great week and try to stay cool and hydrated. I do have to admit one final thing...and only because the New York ladies knew I had the pictures. I downloaded the pictures into my new Mac computer and told the computer to erase the pictures off the disc....and then I couldn't figure out how to get them from the computer to the blog. So now I'm on the old computer and I have no pictures left in the camera so now I can't send you pictures of anything because I'm an idiot. I shall keep you posted on my idiot status and will continue to fight the Mac for the pictures.