Observations of the Week...

...aka Randomness.

~I miss coffee. I thought I was going to die this last weekend...from caffeine withdrawal. I've no idea how I did it but I did. I.am.awesome!

~Cooking takes up way too much time. Like way too much. I haven't had time for yoga or stitching. I know...blasphemy!

~I had to dust off the blender, rice cooker and the steam basket for this little cleanse experiment. More gadgets than I've used in a while. And I think I may have broken the blender. The next time I go to Macy's, I'm getting one of those new fandangled immersion blender thingies.

~I have no idea how moms who work full time and cook three meals a day do it. I miss Trader Joe's!

~Buying completely fresh and organic is freaking expensive! I didn't think I could eat so much but apparently, when you cook everything from scratch, you go through a lot of ingredients. I still miss Trader Joe's.

~I also miss Fairy Moon because she hasn't seen daylight in over a week. Her update is that she looks the same as the last update.

~I can't wait for the cleanse to be over on Saturday and not because I am craving anything although I am getting a little tired of the cleanse diet. I'm really just tired of cooking. I need to find a personal chef boyfriend. This is probably not a good idea though considering what a disaster the last "personal chef boyfriend" was.

~Does anyone have any info on the Grand Cayman as a vacation spot? Not as a tax haven...everyone keeps saying that. People must think I have more money than I have any hopes of having! I wish! I've forgotten to buy the MegaMillions ticket 2x in a row and it was at super duper millions jackpot.

~I'm thinking of ordering some scroll rods and am wondering what the longest size is I would ever need. Are 30" rods large enough for most Chats? I need to do some math.

I'll be back with a post-cleanse update, which will probably contain more whining about cooking, after Saturday. Hope you're all having a good week!

Until next time...

TUSAL Update

Wow, this is a rare early morning post for me. It'll have to be quick though because I have to hop in the shower and head into work.

Here is my TUSAL update next to some pretty daffodils I picked up at Trader Joes. There is a lot of purple and blue from Fairy Moon and some christmasy threads from Merry Be.

The week has been a busy one! I finally returned to yoga after months and months. It's been a creaky start so far but it's nice to be in class and leave feeling refreshed even if I think I'm going to die and wonder what I got myself into sometimes about halfway through the class. Tonight is the final day of eating how I want because I decided to sign up for the dietary cleanse and it starts tomorrow. Wish me luck! Lots of vegetarian eats for the next week. Since this will hamper my social life which includes lots of dinners out, coffee dates and happy hours, I hope to get lots of stitching in if the cleanse cooking isn't too time consuming.

Hope you all have a nice weekend!

Until next time...

Fairy Moon - Week 3 and IHSW

Hi Everyone!

I hope that a nice weekend was had by all. I have to say that some of my plans fell apart but it was a blessing in disguise. From Friday night to Sunday morning, I hermitted at home in my jammies. I think I just needed quiet time to myself after a busy week of family. I caught up on shows, stitched, snacked, relaxed and enjoyed the solitude. It was bliss!

IHSW was a total success! I had a finish, a start and more progress on Fairy Moon. Yay!

First, the finish! I finished my ornie! It's Primrose Needleworks Windows of Faith, Hope and Peace from the JCS 2010 Ornie issue. I love it. I have no idea why it took me over a year to finally finish.

Secondly, the start. I made a start on the Shepherd's Bush Little Eggs Pincushion. It's such a soft Easter design. And it looks like it will be a quick stitch!

And lastly, my progress on Fairy Moon. I'm torn between feeling like I accomplished a lot this weekend and that I didn't do enough...because the wings are massive! There is so much blue stitching to go!

That's it for the stitching news today. I did have a couple of questions and was wondering if anyone had any input.

1. Has anyone ever done a dietary cleanse before? I realize this sounds a tad hippy granola but the idea of doing a food cleanse has appealed to me for the last couple of years since I hear it restores energy and helps with digestive issues a person may have. I think the one thing that may kill me is to give up coffee for a week. I can handle anything in life...except maybe that. I've been drinking coffee since I was five. I also wonder if coffee is why my brother and I are spazs and my sister is more mellow and even keeled since she switched to decaf eons ago. Although, the lack of coffee is a huge explanation of how she can nap anytime and anywhere. I don't have that gift. I don't want to nap. I just want more energy and less digestive issues. Feel free to email me (sidebar) if you'd like.

2. Is anyone thinking of going to a stitching retreat this year and if so, which one(s)? I am doing my little bit of research and trying to figure out where I want to go should finances allow. I'm sure I don't know about all of them. The sad thing is most retreats are midwest or East Coast so it's a journey for me to go but I'm willing to make a vacation out of it.

Well, time to get a few stitches in before hitting the hay. Hope you all have a nice start to the week. I'll be back for my TUSAL report in a couple of days!

Until next time...

Fairy Moon - Week 2 and a Finish!

Hi all...hope you are having a wonderful week. I can't believe it's half over already. It's been busy in my little corner of fogland...which should be renamed super rainy and windy land. Wow has it been pouring buckets the last couple of days.

My sister and her family have been visiting and it's been nice to spend some time with them. I haven't really been able to stitch on Fairy Moon this past week since I haven't been home very much.

On Saturday, a friend invited me to her house since she was hosting an all day stitching get together. I was thrilled to be invited and it was fun to hang out and stitch with other fun ladies. I managed a small finish that night and finally completed Shepherds Bush Merry Be.

A heads up to those who prefer 2 threads over 2 on 30 count...you will run out of two colors...Ruby and Olive Grove. I was lucky to have Ruby in my stash and a kind lady answered my plea on a message board for enough Olive Grove to complete 75 stitches and some backstitching. I just love it when stitchers come to the rescue so a finish can be had! Now to finish-finish it.

Since I still had time to spare, I pulled out my Faith-Hope-Peace ornament that I started in February 2011. I can't believe I forgot about it! At least I am getting closer to finishing it!

Thank you Liz for hosting such a fun, fun time!

And here is my Week 2 progress photo for Fairy Moon. It's a slightly bigger purple blob to signify the shawl. Since this photo was taken, I managed to finish the purples and have now moved onto the wing which is various shades of light/silvery blue. I think the wings will take me a while. They seem massive! We won't even discuss the dress yet...

This weekend is IHSW! Woot! Go and sign up! I do have quite the weekend planned so I won't have too much time to stitch although that may be all dependent on this crappy weather. If it's rainy, I may just bail on everything and hibernate. It's no fun taking the bus throughout the city to celebrate St. Patty's Day Irish-style in the rain. I'd love to see more progress made on Fairy Moon or even get to some finishing that's piling up. I haven't forgotten about you Catherine!

Well, better get going, Final night of family visiting but I wanted to post before the week got totally away from me.

Happy (almost) Friday!

Until next time...

Fairy Moon, Week 1

Hello My Lovelies...

Hope you all had a nice weekend. I had a nice time. Lots of stitching on Friday night and I spent most of Saturday and Sunday exploring this city of mine.

I'm not feeling all that great today. I think I am coming down with a cold or something. My throat is all scratchy and sore. I can deal with anything except a sore throat. I can't stand having one so I will be heading straight into bed after this post.

I thought it would be a good idea to post weekly updates on Fairy Moon to gauge how long it will take me to complete. I can't keep track of hours because I have stitching ADHD and get easily distracted by food, tv, the computer and tv. Oh yea, I already said that. But I can keep track of weeks. Well, most of the time. How is it March?!

As you can see, the purple blob has grown! I am still working on the shawl and will probably break out to the wings soon just to throw another color into the mix.

I've been enjoying Fairy Moon and am so happy I just got on with it already. I'm not sure how much I'll get done in the next week or so. I have a stitching get together on Saturday and Fairy Moon is on 30" rods. Definitely too big for me to take around with me so I'll have to switch to smalls that day. My sister and family are also coming into town this weekend for a weeklong visit so I'll be a tad distracted...more than usual. But I'll try to get a few minutes here and there so I can get closer to a finish in the long run.

I'm behind on blog reading, commenting and emailing and my computer just hiccupped and lost all the blogs I had open to comment on! OMG! Everyone's stitching looks great and I love all your finishes! That's the best I can do at the moment.

I'm headed to bed. You all have a wonderful week!

Until next time...