Jan 2019

Reading:
I READ 62 BOOKS IN 2018!!!!    I really don't know if that is a great, good, average or poor number.

Finished Craig Johnson's An Obvious Fact
Finished Craig Johnson's The Highwayman
Finished James Patterson's Detective Cross



Stitching:

Last finish of 2018 was my Hope Cardinal

Happy 2019

Happy 2019.  I hope this is a good year.  I am not going to make resolutions.  I always break them and disappoint myself. But there are some things I am going to try.  I am going to eliminate as much wheat as I can from my diet.  Numerous things have made me think about this.  I was thinking back to when I didn't weigh so much and I rarely at bread. I ate a lot of salad.   Also, I had a dietitian once tell me I should not eat wheat.  I also read about blood types and mine says wheat is an issue.  So I am going to try.  I realize I probably can' get it out 100% but I am going to try to get it down.



Reading:
Finished J.A.Jance's Deadly Stakes
Finished Jane Kirkpatrick's A Light in the Wilderness
Finished A.J. Finn's The Woman in the Window. did not see the story taking that turn.  Interesting.
Finished Craig Johnson's Depth of Winter

Stitching:

I have finished very few projects this year.  But I have a couple I am working on.  I have my baby sampler for my new great niece to the point I am just waiting for her to be born and get her name and birth date.

I have pulled out my Mason Jar Lineup and started stitching it again.

I am also going to start Hands On Design's Live Within Your Harvest.  I am going to use it for my smalls exchange at my May retreat.

Here is the finish for my sunflower and teacup bird

That's all for today.

Love and Peace, Dianne

2 Finishes 11.30.18

It has been about 6 weeks since I have posted.  I have been on a reading frenzy.



Reading:
Finished David Baldacci's The Fallen.  It is the Amos Decker character series.
Finished James Patterson's The People vs. Alex Cross
Finished Emily Giffin's All We Ever Wanted
Finished J.A. Jance's Cruel Intent
Finished J.A. Jance's Trial By Fire
Finished Jenny Colgan's Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe

Finished J.A. Jance's Fatal Error
Finished J.A. Jance's Day of the Dead
Finished John Grisham's The Reckoning

Finished J.A. Jance's Left for Dead

Finished J.A. Jance's Queen of the Night
Finished James Patterson's The 17th suspect

Stitching:
I have finished this bird on a teacup.  I used some beads for the little buds.  Finally found a frame that I like after buying numerous frames.  As soon as I get it framed I will post it again.  This is for my niece.  I want to stitch it again for me.

I also finished my Fiestaware and Sunflowers by Janlynn.  I didn't do it totally like that pattern because I did not like the border and the words. But it is finally done and I am happy.   The finishing is going to be tricking since I have zero talent in that area.  Hope to get it done soon. 

Hoping to Heal:

I have been drinking Xango juice for quite a few months.  It is from the Mangesteen berry.  I'm sure I spelled that wrong.  It is very expensive.  I can't tell if it is helping since I still need my pain meds.  I stopped drinking it a few days ago.  Haven't noticed any difference in pain.  Yesterday I received Copaida capsules from doTerra.  I started them yesterday and hope they do some good.  I also ordered some CBP stuff you rub on.  It is from hemp and is suppose to help with pain too.  Hope the new stuff works. Much more affordable.

Peace & Love,

Dianne

My first jury duty 10/18/18

10/7/18  My husband and I life a quiet simple life.  So I am thinking that is why the two of us have so much trouble sleeping.  I was up most of the night.  Fell asleep around 5:30 this morning, so naturally I slept through getting up and going to worship service.

Saturday a local Llama farm had an open house.  It wasn't much and it was quite cold out (for October).  I enjoyed it though.  I got to pet the llamas and ask questions.  They make a strange whiny kind of sound.  Some had the most beautiful fur? coats? wool?  Whatever it is called they were pretty.

10/18/18 - 16 days of Jury duty before I actually had to serve on a jury.  Got to the court house at 7:35am and got out to my car last night and it was 7:35pm!!!  12 hour day for $40.00.  This was my first time.  It wasn't that bad but what a lot of time wasting.  Lawyers repeat themselves so much.

I was employed as the Asst VP of Operations at a bank for nearly 29 years before the bank was sold and most of us lost our jobs.  The people I worked with were like family.  We are having our 10th annual reunion tonight. Love seeing some of those people. Especially those that were in my department.

Reading:  

Finished Catherine Coulter's Paradox.  Finished J.A. Jance's Kiss of the Bees,this one is #2 in the Walker series.  Hope this ends the evil serial killer and they take on something else.  Finished Tami Hoag's Guilty Sin.  Did not see that ending coming.  Now reading David Balducci's The Fallen.

Stitching:

I have finished the stitching on my 3 year old sunflower.

I didn't do it exactly like the pattern but that is just "how I roll".   I don't know how to finish it off. I don't think I want it in a frame.  Finishing would probably be so much easier if I had a clue about sewing or any talent in this area.

I posted some X stitch books on the Facebook site "Cross Stitch Barter"  I wish someone wanted them.  I did have a barter with someone for my HAED pattern.  I got a couple of "fancy" flosses for it.  A good trade.

Hoping to Heal:

OA For Today:  Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.
                             -Aristotle-      For today: Friendship, like the longest journey, starts with one step.

OA Food for Thought: Bad days - There are some days when we wake up in the morning knowing with a sixth sense that the day is going to be a hard one.  These are the days when it is difficult to get out of bed, when we would prefer not to face what awaits us. There is no way around these days; we must get through them the best way we can. Our most useful tool for coping is: abstinence.  Be determined not to escape into food. 

OA Voices of Recovery:  Once we become abstinent, the preoccupation with food diminishes and in many cases leaves us entirely. 


Peace and Love - Dianne

Good Morning 10/3/18

I have jury duty from 10/1 to 11/1.  So far all cases have been settled through 10/8.  Which is a good thing since I only work part time and would prefer to earn a paycheck instead of sitting at the court house.

Reading:
I finished Tami Hoag's Night Sins.  It left you hanging a bit at the end so I had to order the sequel, Guilty as Sin, from www.paperbackswap.com.  Hope that one tells us who did it.

I am now reading Catherine Coulter's Paradox.  I love to read but this one is from the library and I only have today and tomorrow to finish it.  So much pressure!  😉😉😉😉  I have read this whole series.  I love a series.

Stitching:

I pulled out an old project.  Maybe 3 years old.  It is going to go on my kitchen wall someday too.  I had to switch projects.  On my sunflowers and fiesta ware, I had to tear out a whole section of the checkered napkin.  I messed it up too bad.  Then I just got frustrated so I decided to put it down and finish this.  I should be able to finish this in October.  At least I am hoping to.

The colors are brighter in person.  I am not doing it 100% like the pattern.  I am not going to back stitch the flowers in that border.  I want to keep it "blurry".  I am just going to back stitch the sunflower so it pops out.  I am thinking I need to back stitch all around the blue so it stands out a bit more and also all around the border for definition.  

Need to go balance our checking account to see where we stand going forth into October.

Peace and Love,

Dianne

A few hours to myself 9/26/18

Since my husband is retired we are together in our small house almost 24/7.  I will probably keep my part time job for a long time for my own sanity.  This morning he started a part time job.  So now I have a couple hours to myself on Wednesday and Friday mornings. So thrilled.  Today of course I spent my precious hours running all over town doing errands.  But my car tire is fixed, dinner ingredients are purchased and the air conditioner and furnace have been serviced. Whew!

This tiny late summer sunflower is growing out of one of my patio pots.  LOVE sunflowers.

Reading:
I finished reading - J.A. Jance's Hour of the Hunter.  Pretty good. 

My husband brought a book home from the library he thought I would like, Nora Roberts' Shelter in Place.   It was a fast read.  It kept me interested so I read it in a weekend.

I am now reading Tami Hoag's Night Sins.

Stitching:

I forgot about this little finish I had in March.  It is for my cousin's child's child.  Maybe that makes her my 3rd cousin?  Anyway her name is Isla pronounced like an Island so you don't say the "S" .  I figure she will not ever be able to buy something personalized in a store and also people are always going to mispronounce it.  I know the colors are odd but her nursery is not decorated in traditional baby colors.

The aida it is stitched on is more of a sage green that the photo shows.  And the orange is a deep coral.

As for the sunflowers and fiesta ware picture I have been working on for the last 6 months, I spent Monday evening frogging out the entire upper part of the checkerboard cloth.  It was awful, I made a mistake somewhere and tried to mask it and it just was ugly.  Going to start that part over.  I enlarged that portion of the pattern so I could try again.

I did win a chart from Shirl of Tranquil Stitches.  She has a floss tube channel.  She is from West Virginia and seems like a really sweet woman.

I also went to Goodwill and picked up some serving trays to try to use as frames for my kitchen wall.  Whenever I complete a stitching project for that wall!!!   Going to try to use inspiration from Pricilla of The Real Housewives of Cross Stitch.  I also follow them on floss tube.  


That's all for today,

Peace and Love,
Dianne

9/19/18 Sunflower update

Last Saturday we went to Northfield MN for the Defeat of Jesse James Days.  We walked around and stayed for the re-enactment of the bank robbery that the James/Younger gang couldn't complete.  Boy am I out of shape.  I sit for my job, I sit to stitch, I sit to read and I sit because there is less pain.  I need to get up and move.  I am going to attempt a 21 day challenge that starts Monday.  I am horrible at follow through so I hope I can do better this time.

Update - The Challenge program isn't hard but it really isn't my thing.  You need to listen to a recording by the instructor each day and do the challenge. I am rarely alone (husband is retired) and finding time to listen to the recordings doesn't always work.  I also feel pressured.  I would prefer that one challenge lasted more than a day.  There are 21 of them too much to do...  I am sticking with the listen to your cravings one for now.  Am I really hungry or is a feeling of boredom, fear, pain, depression, etc?

Reading:
Just finished The Late Show by Michael Connelly.  It is the first in his new series of Police Crime Solving.  It was interesting.  Kept me interested.  I do love a series.

I finished reading a Spenser For Hire novel called Old Black Magic. Robert B. Parker wrote them before he died and Ace Atkins is keeping them going.  I enjoy Spenser's smart aleck personality.

I finished J.A. Jance's Hand of Evil.  It is a series about a woman (Ali) who is starting over in life and of course there is a crime to solve in each one.

I am now reading J.A. Jance's Hour of the Hunter.  It is a suspense book about a serial killer.  Disturbing to think on the fact taht there are monsters out there preying on people.

Stitching:
I participated in Bendy Stitchy's Alzheimers sale on Instagram and won the bid for a project bag by Diddley Daddle Designs.  Very nice. My first "official" project bag.  She then had a floss tube live sale and I got a few things.  I am looking forward to them coming in the mail.  Who doesn't love fun mail?

Here is my last Sunday night progress on my Fiestaware and Sunflowers.  It looks almost done but there is really a lot of work left on it.

A cross stitch surprise came via Facebook.  I woman I went to school with but really don't know that well are Facebook friends.  We have my high school BFF in common.  She posted a stack of cross stitch books she picked up somewhere (for free).  Her post said she hoped I wanted them.  How special I felt!!! that she would think of me.  They are mostly Christmas cross stitch which I don't care to stitch.  I am hoping to barter them on the Barter Facebook group.  Don't know when I will get them as she lives about an hour an a half away from me.

I am going to stop here and post this.

Love and Peace - Dianne