Of Life, Old Friends, and Facebook

I have the wonderful opportunity to work with a bunch of kids. Most of them are in their early to mid twenties and are in school, either college or seminary (graduate school for people who want to enter into the ministry). Many of them are from other parts of the US and move back to their hometowns or home states upon graduating. Sometimes they leave our store and take ministry positions at churches in the area. I'm always hearing from my co-workers how this person or that person is doing and they found out on Facebook. So, several weeks ago, I took the leap and joined Facebook. I joined mainly to catch up with former employees, but little did I know that I'd also find 4 cousins and scads of friends from school!!

Even though I grew up in a big city, I was fortunate enough to live in the same house for the majority of my growing up years. In fact, my dad still lives in that house. Many of the people I graduated high school with I'd known since 2nd grade. We played softball together or against each other. We were in Girl Scouts together. We swam at the local pool together all summer long. We had sleepovers and birthday parties together. Still others, I'd met and befriended, or at least knew who they were, in middle school, which was 6th-8th grade at the time. So some of the people in my graduating class I went to school with for 7 years. Then there were those who'd gone to a different middle school and I didn't meet until my freshman year in high school, so we only spent 4 years together. Add into all of this the fact that I had an older brother who had a whole group of friends that practically lived at my house, which meant I knew many people in his graduating class as well.

I must confess that while I knew the vast majority of people in my graduating class, I didn't really have a lot of close friends. I only kept in contact with one or two after graduation, but that stopped as soon as life happened. You all know how that goes. I've always wondered how some of the people in my class turned out. Did they grow up? Did they get their acts together? Have they married, divorced, had kids, become productive members of society? Do they still live in our hometown? You know, all those normal things inquiring minds want to know.

Little did I know that when I signed up on Facebook, one of the first questions asked when setting up your profile is the high school you attended and the year you graduated. If you include this information in your profile, you're added to the list of graduates for that particular high school as well as the list for your graduating class. I perused the list for my HS class (TR '84!!) and really didn't find anyone that I was just dying to know how their life had turned out, so I proceeded to find family members and former/current employees. I was quite content with my Facebook experience.

About a week into my life on Facebook, lo and behold, someone from my graduating class sent me a friend request! I was quite shocked and surprised because I didn't really figure anyone would want to know what had happened to me. After all, we hadn't kept in touch over the past 25 years. I recognized this girl's name, thankfully she used her maiden and married names, so I approved her request. Come to find out, she lives about an hour south of me! Soon, I found several people I'd know since elementary school! If you know anything about Facebook, you know that once one person finds you, everybody and their dog will find you. I've been able to reconnect with lots of old friends. Some of them we go way back, all the way back to the playground at the elementary school. It's been so much fun catching up with them and seeing how their lives have turned out. I've also come to realize that I really did care about these people more than I wanted to admit. Now, I'm really hoping we can pull together a 25 year class reunion (yikes!) so that I can hug all these people's necks and talk with them face-to-face. I'd really like to see them in real life, not just chat via inbox messages.

The one thing that really bothers me is a comment made on one of my pics. This was my 4th grade school picture.



He says, "Absolutely cute! That's how I remember you." We then spent the next 6 years together. It disturbs me that he doesn't remember me like this, my senior picture.



Guess I wasn't as "cute" then!! LOL LOL LOL I must admit, I really like that 4th grade picture, especially my hair color. What I wouldn't give for that color now!

(o:

It's Hump Day!

Means I'm off for the day! How wonderful is that?!? Hope to get lots of resting accomplished today, but before that happens, I thought I'd post the progress that I've made on my February ornie. I hope to finish him today or tomorrow. Here's my headless Santa! LOL



Suzanne has asked me what fabric I'm using. Suzanne, just in case you didn't read my reply to your comment on the comments page, it's a Silkweaver Solo, so there's no name. Sorry! Check their website though as they might have something similar to this one.

Spring is fixin' to (that's Texas-speak for y'all) roar in like a lion. I finally started my winter seed sowing project on Sunday. I planted lots of perennials. I hope this experiment works. Here's the final result of my planting.




I planted:
Balloon Flower
Blanket Flower
Butterfly Weed (orange & pink)
Pink Skullcap
Black-Eyed Susan
Echinacea (purple coneflower)
Red Hummingbird Sage
Pink Hummingbird Sage (but some may be red because I dropped the red seeds into the pink ones on accident...ugh!)
Lemon Mint (monarda)
Blackberry Lilies
Coreopsis (Tickseed)
and...a low-growing mix of wildflowers

Keep tuned to my gardening page for updates!!

Last week while out in the garden, I found a few bloomers. First up is my new, planted last fall, Veronica "Georgia Blue". It's a ground cover than can take our hot Texas sun and should spread nicely in the bed I have it in.



The Four Nerve Daisy has been blooming all winter. It blooms all summer, too! Such a great little plant. I need to figure out how to divide it and/or propagate it.



And then this little thing was blooming. It's some kind of Geranium, but for the life of me right now, I can't remember what it's called. It loves the sun anad blooms like crazy all summer long. Since it's survived the winter, I'm going to divide it and plant it in the ground.



I just love this time of year when there's so much hope for the garden!

(o:

Slow Progress on my February Ornie

I'm slowly, but surely getting closer to finishing my ornament for February, Prairie Schooler's Santa from the November issue of The Gift of Stitching magazine. It's not a difficult stitch, but I'm having a hard time getting into stitching it. I worked on it last night during Saturday Night Stitch time, but didn't seem to make much progress.

Here's before:



After 2 hours of stitching:



I've decided to continue stitching on this next week and try to finish this before the end of February.

My Needle's Been Busy

I put the last stitches in LHN's The Busy Needle last night. This was such a delightful stitch! For some reason, it seems that LHN designs are so peaceful to stitch. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I can clearly see the chart! LOL



The Busy Needle
Designer: Little House Needleworks
Fabric: 32 ct. Blue Dynasty from Silkweaver
Fibers: Crescent Colours

The chartpack is only available from The Busy Needle.

Late Sunday Update

I got to stitch for about 3.5 hours on my former incentive piece, LHN's City Stitcher Country Stitcher. I'm happy to report that the city stitcher now has a roof over her head! It's really coming together.



Tomorrow, I'll return to my January 1st project, The Busy Needle, and hopefully put that one in my finishes pile by the end of the week.

Stay tuned and have a great week!

(o:

In the Last 11 Days

Goodness! Seems like it's been forever since I've posted! I'm feeling so much better and the gunk in my head has all cleared up. Still have 2 days of antibiotics to go, but I think I've finally kicked this sinus infection/cold/crud-going-around-stuff!! I've been having decompression treatments on my back and that is helping tremendously. I'm now able to sit for more than 20 minutes, which definitely improves my stitching time. I'm also continuing my physical therapy treatments, and I will resume my therapeutic massage sessions this coming week. I should be good to go soon!!

I have joined Facebook. Need I say more??? I joined mainly to keep up with current and former co-workers, but a side benefit is that I've been able to reconnect with some high school friends (from back in the dark ages, you know!) as well as a former college roommate! I've also become friends with some cousins, which is nice, since I hardly ever see them or talk to them in real life. Facebook is quite fun, but it can be addicting! If you haven't joined Facebook, you should, especially if you have friends and family spread out all over the place.

My Valentine was so sweet to me yesterday. I received my very own box of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies and a beautifully sappy sweet card!! As a former Girl Scout, I have sold TONS of cookies in my time. The Thin Mints were always the bestest selling cookies for me. I don't particularly care for the chocolate cookie inside and the mint flavoring isn't as strong as when I was younger, but they're still yummy anyway. I think I consumed a whole sleeve of cookies throughout the day yesterday! LOL

On the stitching front, here's what I've managed to accomplish.

I've started stitching LHN's Seasonal Saltbox threadpacks. I'm stitching this series horizontally on one piece of fabric. I've chosen to stitch them on 32 ct. Vintage Maritime White from Lakeside Linens. At least I think it's Lakeside. If not, then it's an R&R color. I'm using the threads in the threadpacks.

Here's the first one, "Blessed are the Meek", which I started this past Monday.



I've also stitched on LHN's "City Stitcher Country Stitcher". I worked on this last Sunday while watching the Pro Bowl. I'll work on this again today so I should have another update coming soon! This is where I'll be starting from today.



Lastly, this month's ornie, the PS Santa from the November, 2008 issue of The Gift of Stitching Magazine. This was my Saturday Night Stitch project for yesterday. I stitched on it while watching a couple of romantic comedies with my husband last night. (o:

Before:



After:



Hope you all have a beautiful day today!! (o:

Progress and a New Start

I actually pulled out my former incentive piece, LHN's City Stitcher, Country Stitcher this past Sunday and put in a few stitches. I really do like this piece, so I'm not sure why I have such a hard time stitching on this.

Here's where I am now:



And this is the last progress pic I have from November, 08.



Just working on it pretty much only on Sundays has really helped me get closer to a finish on this pretty piece.

I started my February ornie this week. I decided to do the PS Santa from the Dec. 08 issue of The Gift of Stitching Magazine (TGOS). Here's what I've gotten done in 3 days.



The scan is a bit dark; it looks much better in person. I'm stitching this on a 32 ct. Silkweaver Solo, so the fabric has no name. Sorry about that for those who might want more specifics. I'm kinda excited about seeing how it works up. All the finished pieces I've seen of this have been on some shade of tan. Two things I wanted to do this year in my stitching were to stitch on fabric from my stash and use more than fabrics in the tan/brown range. I think this definitely meets the 2nd goal!

Health-wise, I'm doing better. The crud is almost gone from my head. I'm still blowing my nose A LOT, but not as much as I was. I went back to the doctor because half my head is still plugged up, and she decided to completely change all my antihistamine-decongestant medicines. I really just want the gunk in my head to clear up. She wants to change my medicine. I just don't get it! LOL I did get a new antibiotic, which will probably take care of the congestion. I can never seem to kick one of these sinus infections with just one round of antibiotics. The good news is that this one isn't as powerful as the last one.

My back is still hurting like mad! I'm still not able to sit for more than about 20 minutes at a time and then getting up and walking around. (Gotta loosen up those hip flexors!!) I did go to my pain and torture session today (aka "physical therapy") and he worked me over pretty good. Told me what was going on, told me to continue to do my exercises (Praise God for the exercise ball and my biofoam roller!!) and then to come back in 2 weeks. I might be back NEXT week if I don't feel any better. I also might make a trip to my friendly chiropractor for a decompression treatment and adjustment. Lastly, I think I definitely need to put a massage in the budget! LOL

Hannah's finished her 2nd round of antibiotics for her infection. She's definitely doing better, but we have to take her for another culture to make sure the infection is clearing up. This will also tell us if we need to do more antibiotics. This last time, the vet also prescribed Gentimicin, an eye and nose drop medicine. We've used it before when we first got her to help clear up the infection she had when she first came to live with us. Mark gives her the medicines followed up with some cheese, so she's a very good kitty about taking her meds. Bribery goes a long way with some cats!! LOL Callie goes for a dental cleaning later this month. She also is due for her kidney check-up, so she'll have blood work to check her BUN & creatinine (tells us about her kidney function and health), as well as a urinalysis. She's such a good girl when it comes to all these procedures, but it's so much less stressful for her to have it all done while under anesthesia. It's a good thing my medical reimbursement check is coming mid-month. LOL I leave you with a not-so-great picture of her playing. I just couldn't resist her expression!

Saturday Night Stitch Progress

I got about an hour of stitching in last night on my SNS project. My back isn't letting me sit for too long, so not much stitching getting accomplished the last 3 days. :(

Here's where I started:



And here's where I stopped: