A Stitcher's Dream

We had another shop close down :o( This one carried a few cross stitch supplies but not enough to consider it a LNS. During the last week it was open; I went in and inquired about a few things. One thing was the Mill Hill bead racks :o) You guessed it, I came home with two! I was so excited and just look at these pretties -

Yes, those are all my Mill Hill beads and treasures. LOL!

So far I only have one rack in use. I'm not sure if I'll use the other one or not. I just wish we had the money to fix up my craft room with all the cabinets that I've been dreaming of ;o)

Spring is finally popping up -

It's still quite cool though and now we're having a week of rain :o( Come on warmer weather!

It's...

s-s-s-s-SNOW!

Pictures are worth a thousand words -

Yup, my car is underneath there somewhere...

For some reason, Nova Scotia loves to have things done differently. Three of our four doors going to the outside swing outwards. Not a problem right? Maybe in a warmer climate but not up here in the north where you get lots of snow (at times) -

LOL! Luckily we have a new door on order and it's going to swing 'inwards' ;o)

This is our largest storm this winter. We had a small one right before the holidays, enough to say that we had a white Christmas but then we were back to green lawns. I now have to bite back my words. I bragged to my parents that we lived in God's country because we've had nothing but mild weather and they've been snowmobiling over there for about a month. It seems I'm paying for that now :o)

Enough of the "S" word. It's that time where I set my stitching goals for the upcoming year. Two years ago, I came up with the perfect formula. I found that it gave me the freedom I wanted but also something to work towards. If you check out the Pumpkin Patch & Co. Graveyard, you'll see that I achieved my 2009 goals by 100% and over! This year I'll use the same method but I've changed the numbers around a bit.

I'm still up in the air about my large project so I've narrowed down some of my choices and I'm going to list them in my sidebar. What I'd love you to do is tell me which one you'd like to see me stitch this year :o) I'll leave the survey up for a week to give everyone a chance to vote for their favourite.

My 2009 list of completed projects has been moved to the Pumpkin Patch & Co. Graveyard so if you'd like to see them at any time, just wander over there. When will my first 2010 project be revealed? Ha! Now that's a secret so you'll just have to keep coming by and checking ;o)

I hope everyone had fun welcoming in the New Year. I can honestly say that DH and I did! We ended up with our friends, T and K, as planned but the Wii wasn't brought out. Why? Because we ended up playing a FOUR HOUR game of the 90's version of Trivia Pursuit :o) I have never laughed so much in such a long time. And I've never stayed up until 3:30 am in a VERY long time! Oye. Needless to say, I'm still recuperating...

Happy Easter Everyone!

Not only do I highly recommend you check the chocolate mini-eggs you're eating but also remember -

Yes, bunnies are highly adorable, cute, cuddly, sweet and lovable but they should not be giving as gifts. They require the care and attention of any pet and eventually they will learn to rule your household ;o)

S & M

Be honest, how many of you raised your eyebrows when you saw this title? ;o) It just so happened that two of the dirtiest words in my vocabulary came up this past week. Ugh!

Snow - yes, that is a dirty word in my books ;o) We had our very first snow flurries this past Wednesday. I really shouldn't complain since we've been so lucky thus far but I refuse to let it snow before I move! LOL! Whether I will be that lucky remains to be seen. Today, I finalized the moving date for December 12. That's when the movers come in and do their thing and I'll be off to my bachelor pad ;o)

Just because it hasn't snowed doesn't mean that it hasn't been ccccold! This was the week that temperatures took a big U-Turn. Our mild temps said farewell and Jack Frost took over. My thumbs have already been frozen more times than I can count. The frost will definitely be starting to settle into the ground now, making way for...snow :o(

Ma'am - that word seems harmless enough doesn't it? Well, not in my books, especially when it's referring to me! I was in Canadian Tire this past week. I was just on my way out the Exit at the same time as this guy. I'd say he must have been in his late teens. Anyway, he stopped to allow me through first and said "You first ma'am." Huh? Did I hear him right? Yup. I looked around to make sure he was talking to me. No one else there. Me a ma'am???? GG!

I got in the car and my head was just reeling. I couldn't believe it! Holy crap, I'm only 37 and I'm being called a ma'am? Isn't that word reserved for someone like my mother or grandmother? Do I really look that old? Please tell me I don't look older than my age. Did you know that the actor, Daniel Craig (James Bond), is the same age as me? If I didn't tell you that, how old would you think he was? Myself I thought late forties. Now granted he is a good looking man but PLEASE don't tell me that I look that old at 37 :oS Ahhhhhhhhhh!

I am happy to report that Stargazer will be traveling down to Moncton tomorrow for her frame fitting :o) The frame I picked out is so gorgeous! Expensive too but we won't talk about that... Hopefully she'll be ready to come home by next week. Even though she'll just go into storage, I'm happy to know that she'll be finally complete and one day soon I'll be able to just gaze at her myself.

Now that Tot is done and hidden away where I can't see her, I can concentrate on a few little projects that must get done. Unfortunately they are secret ones so I won't be able to share pictures for awhile :o( This will be a nice change of pace for me and one I'm looking forward to. Should I mention that one does require a few beads? Bah! I'm sure it won't push me over the edge ;o)

Pumpkin's Top Ten Christmas Picks From Think Geek

It's that time of year again when people are flocking to the malls in groves with Christmas lists clutched in their hands. They walk along with a look of stupor on their faces; in their own little worlds. Don't you wish you could just skip the crowds and let someone else handle things? Well look no more because I, Pumpkin, am here to help you this holiday season :o)

If you're like most people, you've got that one person on your list that just has it all and every year it's the same thing...you're climbing the walls trying to find them the perfect gift. Unique is usually the way to go and believe me, I've picked some unique items for you to check out. LOL! So let the countdown begin...

10 - I figure that the majority of people will never venture into space in their lifetime so why not bring the outer space experience to them with Astronaut Ice Cream! It comes in three flavours; Neapolitan, Mint Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chocolate Chip. Try it and pretend you're an astronaut, even if it's only for 15 minutes. I can't guarantee how good it is but I 'can' guarantee that it won't melt ;o)

9 - You know, I don't think people give fish enough credit when it comes to having them as pets. They really are intelligent, just under educated, so why not expand your fish's education with the Fish Training School Kit :o) Who knows, maybe this might turn into a booming business some day. LOL!

8 - Are you one of those people who love to annoy others? If yes, then this is the perfect gift for you! The Electronic Drum Kit Shirt can be taken anywhere; the doctor's office, on the bus, waiting in annoying line-ups. And you don't have to be musically inclined! Just tap away to the beat of your own drum ;o)

7 - Okay, I had to add this next one because I have issues with room temperature drinks. I like my drinks COLD! The colder, the better :o) With the USB LED Beverage Cooler, all you have to do is plug it into your computer and voila...a cold drink right within reach. Also note that it's the perfect size for those little sample liquor bottles ;o)

6 - If you're like me and love useless gadgets, you're going to love the R-C Desktop Forklift! How fun would it be to play with this during those slow excruciating hours at work :o) Want to rearrange your desk? Let this little guy do it for you!

5 - Having a bad day? Stressed about something? Dealing with useless twits all day long? Then the Dead Fred Pen Holder would be just perfect for you. Jab Fred multiple times and feel all those tense muscles starting to relax, while knowing that you've let go of that anger but no one was seriously hurt ;o)

4 - How many times have you gone into the fridge to extract a container of food, only to find some mysterious goo that once might have been spaghetti sauce? With the Atomic Food Containers, you won't have this problem anymore! These containers can date themselves. The downside? You're no longer able to watch fuzzy stuff grow. LOL!

3 - Do you have trouble saving your change? I know I do! That's why I highly recommend the Bomb Bank. Stop feeding it the coins and this bomb will explode your savings all over the place. Now who wants to clean up a mess like that? ;o)

2 - I'm sure anyone would find this next gift useful. The Animated Driving LED Emoticon lets other drivers know how you feel. The only problem I can see is that mine would constantly be on the pissed off mode. Yea, I seriously need to get one of these....

And you 'know' that I've saved the best for last ;o)

1 - I apologize now because this may seem a little crude to some but I think it's HILARIOUS! The number one pick wins by a landslide and is awarded to...the Humping USB Dog!!!! Plug this little rascal into your computer and just watch him go. There is no need to say more ;o)

Happy Halloween!

Feeling Halloweenie

I don't know what it is lately but I've been in the Halloween mood. Maybe it's that autumn smell in the air or the coloured leaves swirling around on the ground. Maybe it's all the cool costumes in the stores or the fact that I'm stitching two Halloween pieces. Maybe it's watching the flocks of Canada geese flying south or all the piles of pumpkins in front of the grocery stores. Whatever it is, it's really got me going :o)

I never used to like Halloween because that's when my grandfather passed away. I was in Grade 4 and I can remember my parents coming and picking me up at school. We were having our class Halloween party and I was dressed up in my costume. This was my first experience with loss so as we drove to Moncton, I watched the Trick or Treaters going from house to house and I couldn't understand why I had to give that up :o(

I'm not really one for dressing up and going to Halloween parties anyway but in the past few years, I've found that I have been enjoying everything that leads up to the day. I love strolling the isles in the stores and looking at all the different decorations. As you can probably guess, I'm a sucker for pumpkins ;o) I was in Wal-Mart the other day and came across Halloween costumes for dogs. Well, didn't I find the hot dog costume I've always wanted to get for Brie -

If money wasn't tight right now, I would have bought it just to tick off a certain DH ;o)

One sure sign that I'm in the Halloween mood is when I break out the horror movies! I know a lot of people are not huge fans of such a movie genre but I love them :o) Okay, let me put it this way, I love them if 1) its daylight or 2) there's someone else with me. I do have a wimpy side. LOL! Yesterday I broke out Halloween H2O. Did you know that the mask that Michael Myers wears is actually the face of William Shatner, only painted white? That's scary enough right there!!!!

To answer Suzanne's question, and there may be others that are wondering, yes, we do celebrate Halloween here in Canada and it is on October 31. So what's up with my counter then? No, it's not incorrect. I can count, up to 31 anyway ;oP On October 21, I will be celebrating Pumpkin Day!

Yes, it's an actual day and hey, since I'm known as Pumpkin I figure I might as well take over that day as my own :oD So, on October 21, I highly suggest you stop by my Blog for some Pumpkin Day party fun!

Tot's Tippy Toeing

She's back! I finally finished her dress and legs so I figured she was put together enough so that I could post another progress picture -

I'm still a little nervous about where I placed her on this fabric. I'm thinking she's down too low. But then I look at it from a different angle and she looks okay. I don't know :o(

Since I found some landscapers, Tot will be put on hold for a little bit. I want to get the plants and flowers in around The Needlework Shop before it gets too cold ;o)

Speaking of cold...it's getting COLDER temperature wise! I know I shouldn't complain because I just LOVE the fall but my poor toes and fingers are feeling the consequences. DH and I always try to hold out putting on the heat until after the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend but I tell you, it's been hard roughing it. We've had 'heavy' frost almost every morning but thankfully the days have been just perfect :o) I love the fact that I can still hang my clothes outside for that fresh outdoor smell even if I'm still using my redneck clothesline. LOL!

The trees seem to be taking their time changing their leaves but if you look hard enough, you can see little sparks of colour along the river valley.

Every day when I look out the back window, I see the trees changing on the hill behind the barn. This will probably (hopefully) be my last fall here and in a way, it's sad :o( I had such hopes for this place but at least I can say that I lived that part of my life and now I'm on to a new adventure! DH and I are starting to feel the strain but in the end, it will be worth it :o)

Welcome To My...

Needlework Shop -

As you can see, it's still under construction but it's going at a pretty good pace. How they have the upstairs windows hung in mid air like that, I'll never know ;o) The brickwork on the foundation should be done in another day and then the upstairs walls will go in. The architect, CCN, did a lovely job designing this place don't you think? LOL!

LOOK -

When I saw this there was a HUGE smile on my face :o) That means that fall is just around the corner AND it's my favourite time of year. The nights have been cool and I've been enjoying that but the mosquitoes are still out >:o( DH is talking about going camping in Maine sometime during the month of September. Brie and I are all for it!

Today I went and had FOUR vials of blood taken out of me. It started hitting me on the way home even though I had some apple juice and a donut ;o) You didn't hear the donut part. Shhhh! The girl that took my blood was really good but then again, I have 'wonderful' veins. I almost associate those nurses with vampires because they mention this every time I go in. LOL!

On my way home, I took a quick peek to see if I could find myself a strapless bra for my dress. Wouldn't you know it...I did! Not only is it black, my size and seamless, it's got straps so you can convert it to a regular bra AND it comes with those 'invisible' straps :o) When I got in the dressing room, I stuffed the girls in and put my t-shirt back over top to see the effect. Not only does it hide 'the' nipple but it makes the girls look like twins again. My only problem, trying to stay in that thing!

I'm almost embarrassed to say but I've been nominated for another award {blush}. Jennifer awarded me this -

Here are the rules:

1) Only five people allowed.
2) Four of them have to be dedicated followers of your Blog and one has to be new and live in another part of the world.
3) You have to link back to who gave you the award.

Here are my nominees and again, they are in NO particular order -

Mumsy - as you know, this is my mother and she has been an avid reader and fan of my Blog.

Karen - I know you're not Blogging at the moment girl but we've got a lot of history together.

Lori-Ann - a retreat buddy that Katie and I converted into a Blogger buddy.

Nancy - the queen of scrapbooking and an artist.

Joanne - an Aussie with a flair for stitching and cake decorating.

To round off my day, I just got THE most awesome, life changing news!!!! My mind is racing with uncertainties, my face is flushed with happiness and my heart is relieved :o) I hate to be a tease but I cannot say a word for the time being. I know, I know! But there are some things that have to be taken care of first before 'the cat can be let out of the bag'. Stay tuned.

The Cheese Is Back On My Cracker

At least partially ;o)

It was another hectic week and just a taste of what I'm in for during the month of May I'm sure :o( Sigh.

DH was away again so it was my responsibility to hold down the fort. If I didn't have to, I had no desire to leave the house so that gave me plenty of stitching time on the days that I was home. I will have a progress picture of Stargazer for you soon and I know you'll be very surprised ;o) I also put together the fabric and fibers for my Cirque Des Cercles and Cirque Des Triangles projects and I 'think' that I'm FINALLY happy with the choices. Yes, I do have serious issues with making decisions sometimes. LOL!

On Friday I learned that an old friend of mine passed away :o( It was quite a shocker since I had no idea that she had recently been sick and they only live about a five minute drive away. I guess it goes to show you how busy we get with our own lives that we tend to lose touch with those around us. I know she will be greatly missed, not only by her friends, but by her husband as well.

Spring has finally arrived here and our snow is almost gone :o) The birds are back and we've seen robins, sparrows and even my phoebes. I hope they lay claim to their nest from last year. I guess time will tell. The ducks have been flying back and forth and quacking up a storm, even at 5:30 in the morning. The spring cleaning bug hit and I've been working on cleaning out my car. There is nothing nicer than driving around in a clean car :o) Ahhhhh!

Yesterday, DH and I went into town. Our BBQ is injured and we're hoping it can be fixed. So until then, no hamburgers :o( We stopped at the German bakery and picked up some yummy desserts and I was able to pick up my latest ceramic piece from The Clay Cafe as well -

Isn't he cute! During the painting process, I noticed that my pumpkin had what looked to be a butt crack -

Katie dared me to add the sound effect so I did :o) God only knows what they thought at The Clay Cafe when they saw this. LOL!

DH and I stopped at The Blue Door for lunch and it was delicious! I had the roasted (sweet) potato and maple soup with a roasted chicken and brie panini. My mouth is still watering :oP For the first time, their service was excellent so maybe they have finally learned. Their food is still top of the line though!

FIVE more days until Bangor!!!! WOOHOO! I'm SO excited :o) This trip is desperately needed. It was a bit of a downer missing the stitching retreat this weekend but I know the gals and I are going to have a blast shopping and eating, and shopping and eating, AND shopping and eating. You get the idea ;o)

I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone that comes to visit my Blog. I read each and every comment and I respond to them if you have a return email. I can't tell you how much they mean to me. It's like waking up in the morning and having coffee with friends :o)

Liquid Gold

Every year during this time, something magical happens! It hides in the forests throughout the winter, silently waiting. Finally, it's persuaded out with the cool nights and warmer days of the coming spring. This treasure has been around for centuries and once you've been taken over by its sweet, sweet powers, you never go back.

What's this powerful force you ask? Nope, it's not honey. This is liquid gold, better known as maple syrup :o)

There's a legend that is told by the Native Americans about how maple syrup came to be. Late one winter day, Chief Woksis threw his tomahawk into a maple tree. The next day, a liquid (sap) was discovered dripping from the wound made by the tomahawk. The chief's wife used the sap liquid to cook their meat and that's when they discovered its sweet, delicious taste. From then on, the sap was used for various things and eventually it was discovered that if boiled down, it became syrup.

If you live anywhere near maple trees, then you can collect the sap :o) Gathering the sap begins the same way it always has. A 'v' shaped nozzle is hammered into the trunk of the maple tree, creating a tap. When the sap runs, it slowly pours out and drops into a bucket attached just below, to be collected later on. I have to warn you though; it takes A LOT of sap to end up with one bottle of syrup!

Now the method of gathering that sap 'has' changed over the years. People used to have to snowshoe from tree to tree. Their precious cargo was then dumped into a bucket, attached to a sled, and then taken back to the 'sugar shack' :o) This may have been done quite a few times in one day and was quite labour intensive. As the years went by, new methods came about and now some operations have a tubing system, allowing the sap to come to the shack by itself.

Once the sap is collected, it is boiled to evaporate the water and in the end, turned into that sweet liquid gold :o) There are various maple syrup products as well. My grandfather used to buy a block of maple cream on a regular basis when it was in season. Its consistency is like that of fudge and it just melts in your mouth. They also make candies, as shown above. Check out the website for Acadian Maple Products to see what I'm talking about :o)

What can you put maple syrup on? Well...just about anything ;o) Traditionally it's used with pancakes or waffles but it's been known to find its way onto ice cream or into a batch of baked beans. There's a maple butter that can be spread on toast as well...

So the next time you fry up a batch of pancakes, grab a bottle of maple syrup to pour on top and see why it's considered liquid gold :o) Oh, and by the way, Aunt Jemima is NOT maple syrup!!!! LOL!

Happy Easter!

On Thursday, a little birdie told me that it was the first day of spring. Today, a little bunny told me that it was Easter. Since that stupid little birdie was wrong and we are still wading in three feet of snow, am I to believe a birdie dressed up as a bunny?

LOL! I guess I have to since I woke up to my very own egg hunt this morning :o) Yes, the Easter Bunny still comes to my house every year. See what happens when you're really nice to bunnies? ;o)

As you already know, I dearly LOVE bunnies but I just wanted to take a minute to talk about animals and special occasions, especially Easter. Every year many people break down and buy bunnies, ducklings or chicks as gifts for their children. This is a lovely gesture and I'm sure the children are all excited to have such a cuddly creature BUT...that excitement does wear off. The result? Many of those bunnies are sold again, dumped out on a deserted road or sent to the SPCA. I don't even want to go into what can happen to the ducklings or chicks because we all know that they eventually grow up to be ducks and chickens :o(

DH brought a news report from Kelowna, British Columbia to my attention this morning. They are having such a problem with feral rabbits (dumped off Easter bunnies) that they are trying to find a solution to control the 'out of control' population of 5,000. Five THOUSAND! Do you remember that hair commercial where she told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on? Well bunnies are kind of like that. They don't have the saying 'multiplying like rabbits' for nothing. As cute and adorable as bunnies are, they can become a problem BUT only because of human intervention.

So this year remember -

You don't want that poor bunny to get a concussion now do you? ;o)

She's Popping In Again!

Woohoo! I am SO happy with myself! So far this month, I have stitched on Stargazer every single day :o) She is really coming along nicely and I've done enough to justify another picture of her -

When I pulled out DMC 156, I was a bit concerned but now that I see that color palette together, I really like it. I'm sorry about the wrinkles. That really bothers me but I didn't want to take her out of the Q-Snaps completely. Call me lazy ;o) It looks like we're in for quite a rotten weekend weather wise so I will probably hunker down and stitch the whole weekend. That's fine with me! No complaints here. LOL!

What a gorgeous day out there today! I had the windows down in my car and I was doing all my errands in a T-shirt. Btw, I WAS wearing pants too for those of you who are about to crack some jokes ;o) On the other hand, my mood was not as bright and beautiful. My irritability was extra high today after being slapped in the face (with words) yesterday. Needless to say, I'm a bit angry and hurt. I'd say that's probably what contributed to my road rage today because people were driving me crazy! I was never so happy to get home to some peace, quiet and solitude.

I took advantage of this sunny day to take some pictures outside. I finished up my black and white film in the SLR but when I took it to get processed, they said they couldn't do it because it was a 'professional's film'. Grrrr! So that means I will have to go out of my way next week to get it developed. Thank goodness for digital cameras! I thought I would never say those words. LOL!

Do you remember I said that DH bought me some lilies for the Pink Party? Well, sadly the smell had become too strong for my allergies so they got moved into the garage. It's been just the right temperature for them out there and they are still blossoming! I took them out into the snow today and this is what I was able to capture -

I was also admiring the way the snow was sparkling from the sun. With the ice pellets and freezing rain we had, it had created a nice crust which gives off some unique texture -

And finally -

Any ideas where I might have taken this picture? ;o)

Lights Out!

That's what happened Wednesday night shortly after 9 pm :o( Can you guess how many hours our power was out????

A storm moved in on Wednesday morning, starting with snow. Around lunch time, the ice pellets started coming down and then by supper time it was pouring rain. As evening drew near, the colder it became and therefore the freezing rain started :o( I didn't think much of it and even when we looked out the windows, there wasn't any heavy ice forming on the trees or power lines.

Shortly before 9 pm, the power started going on and off, about four times. On the fifth time, it stayed off. Luckily I have a laptop so my battery automatically kicked in :o) DH yelled from the bedroom that I shouldn't use up all my battery power just in case this was a long lasting power outage. Good thing I listened to him ;o)

During the night, I kept rolling over and looking at the clock to see if the power had come back on but there was just blackness looking back at me. Around 4 am, Brie came tip toeing down the hall to our bedroom so we put her in the bed with us. Needless to say, DH and I didn't get much sleep from that point on. LOL!

Yesterday morning, we hit the twelve hour mark at 9 am and still no power. No phone either! I was dressed in layers of two so I could keep warm ;o) The only source of heat that we have in the house is electric so we were starting to worry that if this went on for another twelve hours, we might have to drain the pipes, pack up the furry kids and head somewhere warm. Having candles everywhere can only do so much ;o)

It's amazing how much we do rely on power and how we think of it as a normal every day thing. I can't tell you how many times I went into a room and automatically went for the light switch ;o) You're pretty limited with things you can do as well. Since I had no television, radio, stove, microwave, or water, I decided to use the time to be creative! I dug out my beading supplies and this is what I came up with -

This is my first attempt at a fob and I'm really happy with it. It's actually going to be a gift for someone. A long overdue thank you :oS

When the phone rang I nearly jumped out of my skin but at least I knew the phone lines were back up! LOL! At 10 am, I finally gave in and called the power company. They said their estimated time for our area would be around noon time. I watched power truck after power truck going by. The word was there were around 10,000 customers without power.

Around 12:10 pm, the furnace kicked on so I knew our power was back up and running. Woohoo! So in total, it was fifteen hours. We consider ourselves lucky though because there were some that weren't going to get it back until midnight! Yikes! Needless to say, I was never so happy to flush a toilet. LOL!

I will leave you with a picture I took last week of some ice coming out of the down spout from the eaves trough -

Let The Games Begin!

It's that time of year again :o) You're probably wondering what I'm talking about since there are no holidays in sight. LOL! In case you didn't know, it's the release of the Cadbury Easter Cream Eggs!!!! WOOHOO!

For those of you who are new to my Blog, it's simple, I absolutely LOVE them! I could eat them morning, noon AND night ;o) Last year I wrote the post on How To Properly Eat A Cadbury Easter Cream Egg. If you are a fan of these treats, it's well worth the read.

What I didn't count on was the attraction of other connoisseurs, namely Karen. LOL! Suddenly I realized that we were engrossed in a competition of who could eat the most eggs before they were gone. This was a friendly competition. Actually, it wasn't really a competition but we had fun anyway :o)

Today I finally tracked down the little pleasures of delight so keep watching my side bar to see my progress over the next few months. It seems that this year, Karen and I have sucked in another Easter Cream Egg lover, Lori-Ann. This just adds interest so if there is anyone else out there that loves these sinful pleasures, let us know :o)

So what could be better than a Cadbury Easter Cream Egg? A ginormous Cadbury Easter Cream Egg!

Can you imagine if this was real! I'd have to eat it from the inside out! ROFL!

And by the way, I hold the record of 40 from last year. But as I said before, this is not really a competition ;o)

She's ALIVE!

Yup, Stargazer has been officially started! She's been kitted up for about a year now and I think she's happy to finally make an appearance ;o) I was busy today doing some things around the house when I thought that I should iron the fabric and that way it would be all ready to go. Well...once it was ironed, I thought I should do my counting and have it all ready for my needle. Well...then I had to put it into my Q-Snaps. Well...you guessed it...I started stitching! LOL! I sat for about an hour, pushing my shower aside (and believe me, this was a big deal) and now she has a face that is starting to take shape. Sigh. That's a happy sigh :o) I think I'm really going to enjoy stitching her.

I still have three finishes from 2007 that I have to post but I'm still waiting for things to be received. You're going to LOVE the finale ;o)

Today I didn't have an option of leaving the house because we were...SNOWED IN! Overnight we got about 14-16 inches. Now this was 'on top of' the other snow we already had. We've had FOUR storms in a week. I'm going to say it, I'm sick of winter! LOL! Remember my BBQ from December 4? This is the then and now -

And somewhere under that pile of snow, there's a car -

DH has been so busy snow blowing. The snowbanks are so high now. The last time we had this much snow was back about 4-5 years ago. We had horses back then and they probably could have walked over the fence if they had wanted to -

That year, DH had to snow blow the paddock because there wasn't any room for the horses to move around. Now, anyone that is familiar with horses knows that they can spook quite easily. Because of this, we figured they would stay away from the snow blower. Well, DH let the snow settle after blowing and low and behold, there was our mare Princess with her nose just feet away from the blower. She was a nosy nut ;o)

We still have to cater to critters but at least we don't need a huge area for Brie. LOL! The thing we really have to worry about is her freezing up. If it's really cold and she takes too long to do her 'business', she literally becomes a statue. That's when we have to run out and collect her :o) Yes, we have tried booties but that's a whole other story...