Blarney 'n Grits

Hello!

It's been a bit since I've blogged, but I've been busy. Today and tonight have been especially crazy. I stayed late at work to help a co-worker catch up on some paperwork, then headed to the gym. So I finally get home around 7pm, only to hear a message from the real estate showing company that they want to show my house tomorrow afternoon. So here I am, drinking a glass of wine, cleaning the house as quickly as I can, and watching Idol. Looooooove Idol:) Not so big on all the cleaning tho. So, no stitching tonight for me, just too much to do before the morning light. However, I will take a little break to watch my Idol!!

I know I owe you all some update pics, and I promise they are forthcoming. Work on the February ornament is slowly coming along. I've also been working on Celestial Wings. I ran out of the amethyst Kreinik, so it's on order through "my" LNS in Jacksonville:) Would you believe that I can't find any Kreiniks anywhere in Chattanooga? Walmart is not even carrying DMC anymore, and the Michael's here is no longer carrying Kreiniks. It's so annoying that I can't find the things I want here in Chattanooga any longer. I guess the move to Jacksonville is coming at just the right time:)

Well, I'm off to watch the end of Idol then do some vacuuming before bed:(

Cheers

Claire

Quote of the Day
Cleaning anything involves making something else dirty, but anything can get dirty without something else getting clean.
Laurence J. Peter (1919 - 1988)

Howdy!

Good evening everyone! Tonight is an EQ night, so here I am in Skyfire Mountains kicking wurm butt looking for pearlescent shards for my hubby. Oh the fun we have:) I'm also working on my next decoration during down time.
Tonight it's going to get really cold here - it's already down to 26, and feels like 13 with the wind chill. Brrrrrrr. I think I'll pull out the hot water bottle tonight. The kitty loves the hot water bottle. It's a constant fight between us about who gets to use it. Being bigger and stronger, I usually win:)
Only one more day of school before the weekend!!! Yeah:)

Cheers

Claire

Family Guy"ism" of the Day

Brian Griffin: Hey Bartender! Whose leg do I have to hump to get a dry martini around here?

I love days with no school! It sure does make the week seem better. Today I stitched, cleaned, played EQ, worked out and taught a class. Last Friday during my workout, I pulled my inner thigh and groin muscles:( They still hurt, so I skipped the machines that caused the pulls tonight, but I realized that almost every other exercise I did twinged those muscles. Hopefully I'll still be able to walk tomorrow!

I have finally picked the pieces I want to work on for the next little while. As I said, I have pulled out my Dragon Dreams piece - Celestial Wings - and intend to work on that. I also want to start a new one I bought in Jacksonville called Candy Cane Kisses. It's a Christmas piece, but it's pretty, so I think I'll go ahead and start it. The third piece I've picked is actually a secret - so I won't say much about it, but I will keep you all updated on the progress. Since I've already finished January's ornament, I've started on February's. It's called "The Decorator" - a cute little snowman decorating a tree. I love snowmen!!!!!

Well, I'm off to stitch on the secret piece for a while before bed.

Cheers

Claire

Quote of the Day

I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.
Buzz Aldrin

I've been tagged! No fair, I didn't even get a chance to run away:)
Here goes:

4 Jobs I've Had

• Cashier in a grocery store
• Shoe salesperson
• Manager at an indoor children's playground
• Teacher

4 Movies I Watch Over and Over

• Galaxy Quest
• Any Harry Potter
• Any Star Trek
• Housesitter

4 Places I Have Been

• Bern, Switzerland
• Phoenix, Arizona
• St. Simon's Island, Georgia
• Vancouver, British Columbia

4 Places I Have Lived

• Northern Ireland
• Ottawa, Ontario
• Dillon, South Carolina
• Chattanooga, Tennessee

4 TV Shows I Watch

• Britcoms
• Reba
• Still Standing
• Game Shows

4 People Who E-mail Me Regularly

• My MIL
• My parents
• People trying to sell me things
• ummmmmmm

4 Favorite Foods

• Pizza
• Hamburger
• Fries
• Portabello & Mozarella sandwich from Panera

4 Places I Would Rather Be

• Jacksonville, Florida
• Six Flags Over Georgia
• Camping in the mountains
• A fancy hotel with a hot tub

4 Things I'm Looking Forward Too

• Birth of my new nephew
• Spring break
• End of school year
• Moving to Jacksonville (Someone buy my house!)

4 People to tag

• GailR
• Mindi
• Courtney
• Emily

That's it folks:)

Cheers

Claire

Homerism of the Day

"How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?"

Tonight is the other half of the happy dance!!

The pictures not great, but I added in the snowflakes, and I'm happy with the end result. However, as I was sewing the flakes, I realized that I hadn't left alot of room at the top. Hope I've got enough to finish it off!I'm so close to the end of Winnie! I've got a few more flowery things and some knots to do, then I've got to wait for the baby to be born to get date and weight. I pulled out a Dragon Dreams piece to work on - Celestial Wings. It's been a while since I've touched it, so should be fun. I'll post a pic soonish:)

I took these pics of the puppies playing in the snow the other night. My oldest cat, who was born in Canada, ventured out onto the deck, took two steps looked down at it and came right back in! Smart kitty:)

It's snowing!!! After living in Canada for so many years, I never thought I'd get excited about snow:) I actually think I'm more thrilled about the possibility of a snow day tomorrow.

Anyway, here's a couple of pics of my deck with the snow:)

More later,

Claire

Quote of the Day

"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow. " Jeff Valdez

It's Idol Time!!!!! American Idol begins tonight at 8pm and runs for 2 hours. Can't wait to see it:) So out comes Winnie, the comfy blanket and a diet sprite.

Howdy! It's going to be kind of a late stitching start tonight. I went to the gym, worked out and taught a class tonight. That means I didn't get home until 7pm. So here I am, a little tired, but ready to go. I'm going to do some work on Winnie for a bit, then I think I'm going to pick my next UFO to work on. I have a Doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I'll have a whole day (minus chores and the appointment) to stitch!! So I think I'll get something other than Winnie to stitch on.
They're actually calling for snow here on Wednesday night! A 70% chance of the chilly white stuff beginning to fall after midnight. That means a good possibility of a snow day on Thursday!! One can only hope:)
Well, I'm off to stitch.

Cheers

Claire

Homerism of the Day

"You know that little ball you put on the aerial so you can find your car in the parking lot. That should be on every car."

Good evening! I have just spent the whole day trying to find a new template for my blog. However, there is nothing out there that really leaps out at me, grabs me by the throat, shakes me, and devours me:) I've been looking for something EQ related, but can't find a thing - lots of WoW and even a Guild Wars one, but no EQ anywhere! Mindi, any ideas?? I may actually have to apply myself, learn html, and create my own. Yeah, right! lol

Since I'm spent the afternoon playing with this, I'm going to post a quickie so I can do some stitching. I have two update pics for y'all. This first one is an almost HD.

I say almost an HD because although I finished the pattern, the fabbie I decided to use is wider than what was suggested, so I'm thinking of adding some snow flakes around the side. Any suggestions or comments? I'm also going to finish it as a bell pull, so I'll be calling on Dani any day now:)

Here is my update of the baby sampler. Most of the cross stitching is done, and I've started on the backstitching. Hopefully a few more days, and this one will be done. Time to sort through the stash and see which one is next.

Well lovely peeps, I'm off to eat and stitch.

Cheers

Claire

Quote of the Day

"People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built." Eleanor Roosevelt

Howdy everyone!

Finally, another post. I'm trying to do a little better in keeping up with this. For some reason, I can find the time to clean, stitch, nap and play Everquest, but not blog. Go figure:)
Yesterday was my first workout since before Christmas. Wow, am I ever a wimp!! I've had a bad cough for a few weeks now, and finally went to the Doctor to get an antibiotic (it's a sinus infection.) The cough is finally getting better so back to the gym I went. Wasn't too bad, although I did take it easier since I didn't think all those healthy type folks would want to see me cough up a lung on the elliptical machine. I also taught my first kids class there. That was a hoot! I had six kiddos - three regular ed and three special ed. All the little equipment they have for the children is adorable!! We did cardio on the trampolines and bouncy balls, then strength training on the machines. It was great fun:) I think I've talked my co-teacher into teaching a class as well there:)

Today I had a headache, so no stitching for me. However, Winnie is coming along great, as is my first Christmas ornie (along with two others I've been working on for ages:) I will post a pics soon of progress on Winnie and the ornaments. After the sampler is done, I'm probably going to start Candy Cane Kisses, and also pull out one of my many, many UFO's and work on it. I'll have to decide which one to work on. I'm thinking either TW's Noah's Ark, or a DD one I can't remember the name of right now. For now I'll dream about them both, and the dozen or so others I could choose:)

Well, I'm off to play EQ for a bit before bed.

Cheers

Claire

Quote of the Day

"It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The problem is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or the fourteenth."
George Burns

Well, I'm home again! My time in FL was great. The weather was wonderful, and I had a marvelous time visiting with my family. We spent Christmas Eve and Day at my parents house, and had a blast opening gifts and playing Bingo. (My SIL got it for Christmas.) DH was back at work for the next few days, so I had time to shop. I headed out to A Stitch In Time to check out the stock. A sad lack of funds meant no real shopping, but I got the JCS Christmas Ornament magazine I'd been looking for and some more petites. I wanted some fabbie too, but couldn't remember color and count, so I went home to find out and went back the next day to get that:) Two days at the stitching store are better than one!!
I also got to walk on the beach at St. Augustine, barefoot of course. The weather was so gorgeous - 77 degrees that day. I think I'll fit right in down there:)
I arrived home in time for our yearly snowfall. It began around 9pm and almost covered the grass! lol When I look at the pics from Dani's blog, and a couple of others from the north, and remember all the years I lived in Canada, I'm just so glad to be in the south! Sometimes I miss the snow, but I don't ever miss the cold:)