Dry Hand Blues

Tuesday, November 24, 2009



When the weather turns dry down here, my hands protest. I get hangnails and rough skin and it's just not very attractive! It also makes stitching a bit more difficult as the floss will snag on my rough skin, especially silks. To help combat this problem, I use a homemade skin exfoliator followed by a homemade hand cream. To keep my cuticles nice and soft, I use Sweet Oil after bathing and after exfoliating. Both of these would make nice homemade gifts if you packaged them in fancy little jars. I store my exfoliator in on old glass jelly jar and the hand cream in old lotion jars.

Winter Skin Exfoliator
2 Cups coarse Epsom Salt
1 C olive, grapeseed, or almond oil

Mix together and store in a container with a tight fitting lid. Stir before using because it will separate.

To use, place a heaping teaspoonfull (I use a regular tall glass spoon) onto just dried hands. Rub on back of hands, around fingernails, and on calloused or rough areas. Rinse with a mild hand soap and warm water. Pat hands dry and apply sweet oil to cuticles. Apply a nice, rich, thick lotion.


Homemade Hand Cream

1 (16 ounce) jar Clear Basics Vitamin E Skin Cream
1 (13 ounce) jar Petroleum Jelly
1 (15 ounce) bottle Baby Lotion

Mix by hand or with electric beater on medium until creamy.

*I used a hand mixer. I like it more creamy rather than "fluffy" so don't whip it too long.

I found all the ingredients at my local dollar store. If you can find Delon Vitamin E Skin Cream, use that. I also added a bit of glycerin to the mix. Because it has Vaseline in it, I use it only at night so that my skin can absorb it and so that the greasiness doesn't get all over everything.

If you don't want to make your own hand cream, you can use a lotion with shea butter as a main ingredient or AmlactinXL works great. It stinks, but it really helps with dry skin.

Not sure I'll have a Wordless Wednesday post tomorrow since I have to work, but I'll be here on Thursday for sure with a special Thanksgiving post.

:o)

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A Teaser Picture for Robin

Monday, November 23, 2009

Robin asked for a pic of the exchange piece I stitched (it's going to live at her house), so here's a preview pic for her.



You didn't seriously think I'd post a pic of the piece did you?!? LOL LOL LOL

:o)

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What a Week & Other Mindless Wanderings

Sunday, November 22, 2009

So, I missed posting last week, especially Wordless Wednesday, but it's been a crazy week. I'm so glad it's over! Let's hope this week and the next few weeks are better than this past week.

I woke up early Tuesday morning from a disturbing dream. I dreamed that I was beating my husband! I'm not a violent person by nature, so this really alarmed and upset me. (Not to mention, I DON'T hit my husband!!) After discussing things with him, I realized that I was mad at him for something really stupid, and it came out in my dream. This brought on lots of tears and crying which brought on a headache and dry eyes for the remainder of the day. Then, I realized that the reason I was so emotional was because I was PMS-ing Several years ago, my doctor diagnosed me with PMDD mainly because I cry easily, I get very angry and have really drastic & quick mood changes, insomnia, food cravings, and extreme tiredness. In addition to some diet changes & lifestyle changes, my doctor put me on a very low dose of Zoloft (25 mg) the week before my period. I generally don't need the meds the entire week, but most months I take them for at least part of the week. It makes all the difference in the world!! I can function and am pleasant to be around. The med doesn't totally take away all the symptoms; it just reduces the severity of them and takes "the edge" off. All of this to say, I've been "hormonal" and non-communicative this week. Also, if you think you suffer from PMDD, talk to you doctor. You don't have to live with "the monthly crazies".

On top of this, things at work picked up. That's a very good thing! I work in a Christian book store and the busiest time of the year is just ahead. The days go by quicker and it's just more fun. However, you do get some weird requests. This one was on Thursday. A customer came in and wanted to purchase a Bible. She found one that was about $70. She gets to the registers and was frustrated because she picked up the ONE color that wasn't on sale. She griped that the signs didn't mention colors or any kind of product number or anything. The associate went and pulled off the signs and showed the customer where the colors were listed and it was obvious that the one she chose was not on sale. (Oops! Guess it's too much to expect a customer to actually READ the sale signs.) They got that cleared up, then she tells the associate, "Well, my friend who's coming here to shop later this afternoon has a 30% off coupon. Can I get her discount on this purchase?" Ummmm...let's think about this for a minute....NO! The audacity of the woman! She was not happy that we wouldn't let her use her friend's discount. Seriously! Then, yesterday, a gentleman comes up with a flier that has the pictures of 4 or 5 DVDs that are on sale for $5. He has a huge stack of various DVDs, none of which are the ones shown, and wants them all for $5. Again, let's read the flier, folks!!

As you head out to do your Black Friday shopping and future Christmas shopping, please remember that the person behind the counter is a human being who is just trying to make a living. Please treat him or her with the respect and dignity any human deserves. Remember to treat him/her the way you would like to be treated. You wouldn't want to be called names, yelled at, cussed out, demoralized, or otherwise treated inappropriately, so please don't treat the associate that way. In most stores, store personnel are not in charge of product acquisition and stock levels. Most of that is handled through a corporate or regional buyer. Many times, manufacturers can't meet the stock orders of the customers due to delays in production or shortages of materials needed to make the item. Please remember these things before you take out your frustration on a store associate, store management, or even corporate management. Patience, humility, a smile, and a kind word will go much farther than a harsh word. I'm much more willing to bend over backwards to help a pleasant customer than to do anything for a grumpy, demanding customer.

I did bake a cake this week. This is my all-time favorite chocolate cake. It's sinfully delicious. I could eat the whole thing by myself and not feel guilty at all!! I grew up calling this simply, "Fudge Cake". It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I learned the real name of it is Texas Sheet Cake. I'm telling you, it's to die for!


We harvested more tomatoes this week, including our first Green Zebras! Pretty green tomatoes that are hard to tell when they're ripe. I had to keep squeezing them for ripeness! LOL We also decided to harvest Mr. Lumpy Pumpkin since his vine was pretty much dead from the recent cool nights. He's still a tad green, but he's enjoying the sunshine on my kitchen window sill. I don't think he'll be ripe enough to eat for Thanksgiving, but soon enough, he'll be ready.


Here's a close up of the Green Zebra tomatoes. There's also another large tomato there, but I don't know what variety it is. It's either a Ponderosa or Homestead.


We've probably got a dozen or so more Green Zebras on the vine and probably 6 or 8 regular large tomatoes. What ever will I do with them all?!? LOL

I have been stitching on my Brrrrr It's Cold exchange piece. I had it finished, then decided I didn't like one of the colors, so I ripped it out. Now I've just got to go back and re-stitch it in the new color, iron it, get it packed up and ready to be mailed off tomorrow!!

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What Were Those Pictures Thursday

Thursday, November 12, 2009

In honor of Veteran's Day (Remembrance Day or Armistice Day, depending on where you live) yesterday, the first 2 pics I posted were pics of poppies from my yard this past spring. I've become fond of poppies over the past couple of years. I've scatted TONS of seeds already in hopes of a pretty "field" of poppies in my flower beds in the early spring next year.

Fall is arriving in North Texas. The big oak tree in my back yard is starting to show its fall colors. While I love the colors of the leaves in the fall, I'm not too fond of raking them up once they fall to the ground!

The holly bush outside our bedroom window is starting to put out its berries for the winter birds. I'd really be happy if that bush withered up and died, but it does provide berries for the birds during the winter and shelter for them as well.

Hannah's sleeping spot in the afternoon is a small patch of sunlight. She napped in this spot for much of the afternoon.

Callie loves the sun and she hurried down the hall to get the "primo" afternoon napping spot, which is why Hannah was in her cat bed on the floor. However, Callie didn't stay in the window for very long before she went out to the sunroom and slept for the afternoon.

The garlic is growing! Not sure why the one on the right is so much bigger than the one on the left, but it is. I'm still waiting for the smaller bulblets to sprout. I think I might be waiting for awhile...

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Wordless Veteran's Day Wednesday 11.11.09

Wednesday, November 11, 2009







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Give Progress

Monday, November 09, 2009



This is going to become known as my bent needle project! I somehow managed to bend one of my high-dollar My Favorite Needle needles somewhere along the way of my short time stitching on this beauty. The only thing I can thing that happened was that the needle was stuck into one of the corners of my fabric while it was still in the q-snaps. When I took the snaps off, I must've pulled the needle out or something. Who knows?!? All I know is that I'm stitching with a bent needle and y'all aren't any the wiser! LOL Here she is in all her glory, as of the end of the Cowboys vs. Eagles game where my Boyz whooped up on the birds 20-14.

How 'bout dem Cowboys?!? They're now 6-2 for the season (6 wins, 2 losses for all you non-football folks) and in sole possession of their division. Nice to see Tony smiling again and having fun playing.

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Who Sent the Frog Back to Me???

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Last night as I was finishing up my stitching for the evening on Emmanuel, I noticed a mistake in my stitching. Now, I want to know just who sent that frog back to me?!? I haven't decided whether or not to frog it or to just work around the mistake, yet. I'm going to put this away for the week and work on my exchange piece and then I'll turn my attention back to this monster.

Here's where I started last night for Saturday Night Stitch:


And here's where I finished:



You're not imagining things if you look at the wing in the upper right part. The bird is right side up, but I've been stitching it upside down (turn my fabric and my chart upside down). Everyone take cover, I've sent that little frog packing!!

Closing with some views from my flower and veggie beds today.


Blue Bedder Sage & Rudbeckia

Mr. Lumpy Pumpkin getting his color on.

Garlic getting its stalk and leaves.

A view of the lettuce bed (& weeds--mixed greens!)

Baby spinach plants

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