Ahhhh....Spring in MN

Spring has FINALLY come to MN!!


I can't wait for the first steaks on the grill.....


...getting the ole wave runner out on the lakes.....


...the wonderful smell of freshly cut grass!

Now, where should I hide those Easter eggs?

Eddie Izzard

YAY!!! I was able to get presale "fanclub" tickets to see Eddie Izzard when he is in Minneapolis in May! General tickets go on sale March 16. It was a frantic morning trying to get that password to be able to buy presale tickets, but I got it and managed to get tickets. My fellow Eddie freak, Maria, will be coming from Toronto to go with me. We've seen him together in Toronto and Montreal several times. This time she's coming to Minneapolis. It will be fun, fun...FUN!

Merry Cox Workshop

I have finally gotten back to working on the piece for the Merry Cox workshop next weekend. It's a lot of fun to stitch but I definitely need good light and a magnifier. It's stitched on 36 ct. and much of the work is over 1. The photos don't capture the color of the fabric at all. It's actually quite gold. My sheep kind of wandered from their original placement but it worked out okay. And I'm not sure why there is a crown floating in the air but there is.....cloud formation?

Now it's onto the pincushion! Think I can get it down by Saturday? I don't!

Where do I belong?

You Belong in 1968

You are a free spirit with a huge heart. Love, peace, and happiness rule - oh, and drugs too.

What Year Do You Belong In?

Cross Stitch Update

It's still too cold to do much besides shiver, so I keep warm by keeping that needle moving. I hate winter but this is the winter that just doesn't want to end! I've put a few more stitched in the Historic Mystery Sampler. Unfortunately you can't see the sparkly gold fibers in the girl's dress. I really like this sampler and love working with Dinky Dyes. And the Merry Cox piece is coming along nicely. I still have to figure out the personalization, but that shouldn't take long. So much of this piece is over one on 36 ct so it sometimes goes very slow.
This is the Fair and Square package I received from Marie P. Anyone who knows me knows I love me my coffee so I was quite excited to open this package and find a coffee themed square along with fibers (can we ever have too many fibers?), fabric and, COFFEE! This square is so cute and I am going to have to figure out a way to finish it appropriatedly. So many decisions!
And here is the scissor fob I received from Lily in Malaysia. Yes, she too picked up on my coffee addition. Isn't the fob cute? And she too sent a variety of coffee and tea from Malaysia. I've tried them all and loved each of them!
Now, back to adding layers before I head out the door. BRRRRRRRRRRR!

Beautiful Granddaughers

Yesterday I took my granddaughters to Mall of America and had their photos taken at Sadie's. I was blown away by the photographer and how she was able to capture the beauty of Ellie and Sophie. They are the loves of my life. Can it get any better than this?!

Where Have All The Leaders Gone?

The following is from Lee Iacocca's New Book... Maybe he should be running for president.

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from it's death throes? He has a new book, and here are some excerpts.

Lee Iacocca Says:'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course' Stay the course?

You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned'Titanic.' I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

The Biggest 'C' is Crisis!

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess

So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gasprices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle classis being squeezed every which way These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korean War', the 'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War', the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11.

If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.

'Excerpted from 'Where Have All the Leaders Gone?'.

Copyright (c) 2007 by Lee Iacocca. All rights reserved.

Things Experienced While Flying...

There was the woman sitting behind me who would not put her purse under the seat in front of her in preparation for landing. She continued to tell the flight attendant she would do it and the flight attendant informed her that she had to see her put it under the seat. The woman wouldn’t do it and the flight attendant kept insisting that she do it while she was watching. The flight attendant said that she didn’t make the rules, but those were the rules and the rules were in place for the safety of everyone. Grudingly the woman put her purse under the seat. When we landed, she was still complaining to her husband about the flight attendant forcing her to put her purse under the seat. She was absolutely livid! She was going to stay on the plane to give the flight attendant a piece of her mind and her husband kept saying, “If it will make you feel better...” Can we say pussy whipped?? Finally she decided that she wouldn’t change the flight attendant’s mind so she might as well get off the plane. Oy......

Then there was the mid-20 something guy who sat across from me in the terminal in Phoenix. He opened his salad, poured the dressing on it, put the dressing container on the seat next to him (getting dressing all over the seat), and literally hunched over his salad. He reminded me of a caveman hunched over his meal with eyes flashing around in case someone was going to steal his food. I almost had to get up and move. This guy shoveled the salad into his mouth and ate with his mouth wide open. My 6-year-old granddaughter has better manners! He’d shovel in a forkfull, lift his head and look around with food literally falling out of his mouth. I so love “see food”!

On my flight from Burbank to Phoenix, Gene Simmons of Kiss sat 3 rows in front of me. When we got off the plane, I kind of walked behind him a ways because it was amusing to see the reactions of people. We met one girl who got on her cell phone and was telling someone, “I’m walking past Gene Simmons now!” Other people would just pause and look. He had his sunglasses on (how uber cool!) and was very SLOWLY sauntering through the terminal. He’s quite tall and very thin. He was wearing black cowboy boots with fancy silver toes and heels. I couldn’t tell if he was walking so slowly and as far to the right as he could because he was trying to be cool and say “look at me, I’m a celebrity” or for some other reason. So now I’ve been on planes with Gene Simmons, Ruth Buzzi and Eddie Izzard. Who’s next?

Which High School Musical Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

What's Your Aura, Man

Today Aimee, her friend Erin, and I went to the Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles. I don't think any of us were quite sure what to expect, but that didn't stop us. Aimee and I first went to a workshop on UFO Retrievals which basically turned out to be about Roswell, NM and how our government isn't telling the public anything because they don't want to cause panic until they have all the answers. (Reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode where everyone was climbing on a spaceship to travel to the home planet of the visiting aliens when the people who were working on translating a book the aliens brought yelled, "Don't go! It's a cookbook! Don't tell the public anything until they are about to become dinner.) Kind of a boring workshop with not a lot of new information but it was interesting to see the age range of people in the workshop and the fact that there were probably more men than women who were very passionate about the subject.

The second workshop was on Reincarnation and, when the guy was speaking in terms I could understand, it was interesting. I did have to chuckle to myself at one point because he was talking about being a Conquistador and killing Incas for their gold in one of his prior lives and all I could think about was Bush killing Iraqis for their oil.....history being reincarnated, but that's a whole other story!

Then it was on to a workshop on Past Life Regression. I believe that we've all lived several lives and the lessons we learn or need to learn carry forward with us. I'm just not sure that this woman could actually determine past lives by merely looking at us. Some readings seemed plausible, some not so much. In my case, she said I'd lived in England (which I've always believed) and that I lived to be a very old woman (I've always said I would live to be 100) and that I had many children and many many grandchildren. I supposedly loved to tell my children stories and she suggested that I write the stories down and they would be published. I have been told in other astrological readings that I would be published so that didn't surprise me. And I do love telling my family the stories I am uncovering doing genealogy work. Now, telling Aimee that she lived in Jersalem at the time of Jesus and was a friend and comfort to Mary after the death of Jesus stretched the imagination.

But the best part of the day for me was when we were walking through the exhibitions and came upon a booth where you could have your aura photographed and interpreted. We each decided we wanted to see our auras. We sat in a chair and put our hands on 2 metal boxes which read the pressure points in our hands and transmitted the readings electronically a computer in the camera which read it. (Don't ask me how it works; I only sat there and smiled!) After each of us had our photos taken, the women have people all around guess what color our auras would be. Most people guessed mine would be pink. Well....here's my aura in all it's glory! Yes...to my surprise my aura is pink/lavender and blue! The reading was amazing! She told me that I "see the total picture". I know how to get what I want and don't have to push to get it. She asked if I'd had a cold recently (I had) and that she saw problems with a shoulder (I have lots of problems with my right shoulder). She said a man who has passed was protecting me. That totally made sense to me because I've always believed that my uncle Duane, who was my godfather and who was killed in the Korean War, has always been there to protect me. What blew me away was when she asked me, "Who is Roger?" I was momentarily totally speechless! Roger was my stepfather who killed himself when I was 17. I didn't want to believe he was the person protecting me and I also didn't want to pursue it. There are too many painful memories surrounding Roger. More positively, she said music makes me feel good which is so spot on. My health is good, there is no cancer, but I am a worry wart. NO DUH!! The funniest parts were (1) that I should check the wires behind the TV in my bedroom because they are frayed and need to be fixed, and (2) there is a smell in the kitchen under the sink, possibly mildew...and that is true.

Aimee's aura was a chaos of colors and Erin's was......well, we're sworn to secrecy! You'll have to check out Aimee's aura on her blog.

We did attend a couple other workshops where, during one, we learned that we are what we love and we love what we are focusing on at the time. So, since I'm focusing on this blog and telling you about my day, all I can say is that I love you all!

I Need to be Committed!

I read today that Delta Burke checked into a psychiatric ward for depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and hoarding. She said in an interview that hoarding (being a pack rat) ruined her life. I do believe I may need to be committed to a psychiatric ward if hoarding is a mental illness! Have you seen my stash lately? Here I thought I was merely a collector. Who knew???

What To Do When It's Too Cold Outdoors To Shop

It was one darn cold weekend and I just stayed indoors the whole weekend. In order to avoid eating and to keep warm, I kept the needles moving!

This spring I will be taking a couple workshops with Merry Cox offered by the Needlework Guild of Minnesota. The first is Shepherd's Retreat Sewing Case. I got the kit out and started the prework, i.e., stitching! If it is all stitched, I should be able to come home from the workship with a finished case. It's being worked on 36 ct. antique cotton R & R Reproductions Linen using Soie d'Alger Silk, Gloriana Silk, DMC and Sampler Threads. I was only able to work on it when I had great light because much of it is done one-over-one. I love how it's coming out.



When the sun went down and I had to go to artifical light, I worked on the historic mystery sample from Gift of Stitching Magazine. I'm stitching it on a Lakeside Linen using Dinky Dyes silks. This sampler is so much fun to stitch on. I hate putting it down.



Lately I have gotten into scissors and scissor fobs. Here are a couple I recently ordered from etsy. The scissors are called ice cream swirls. Aren't they pretty?



Now, if only it would get really cold with mountains of snow so I could stay home from work and just stitch!

The Recipe for Me

The Recipe For Neila

3 parts Silliness 2 parts Recklessness 1 part Courage Splash of Sensitivity Finish off with a little umbrella and straw

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

Who Am I?

I am definitely suffering from split personality! I am once again part of the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap (a sock knitting swap) and am a proud member of Ravenclaw House. However, I am also Prefect of Ravenclaw House so I have two identities..Prefect in my real name and student in a name I will not mention here. I have to remember which name to use to log into this blog and the HSKS4 blog and my own character blog, as well as Ravelry and the different Hogwarts chat rooms. So far, so good. I haven't slipped up and I don't think anyone has figured out who my character is (yet!) It's only a matter of time.

I absolutely love this swap! Jenean, the creator and Headmistress of the swap, does one INCREDIBLE job. I am absolutely in awe of her. She has named me Deputy Headmistress, but I sure hope I don't have to take over her duties.

I've been having so much fun coming up with quizzes for our House and gathering prizes. So far the responses have been great. I have appointed a wonderful Head Girl to help me out...Minerva Kwikspell. I can't wait to find out her true identity at the end of the swap. For that matter, there are quite a few members of this swap I would love to get to know more after the swap is complete ~ knitters who also love Harry Potter.

The swap is a secret swap where everyone has a character name. I know who I am sending a kit to (sock yarn, needles, pattern, stitch markers and handmade bag), but I have no idea who is sending to me. I'm SO curious!!

Now, it's back to figuring out who I am!

What Kind of English Do You Speak?

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English 20% Upper Midwestern 5% Midwestern 5% Yankee 0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

First and Last Finishes

Each year my group of stitching friends exchanges a Christmas ornament. For the last several years I've drawn the name of my friend Claudia. I know she likes things she can keep out all winter, rather than just an ornament that will hang on the tree for a short period of time. This year I attempted a flatfold for her and really like how it turned out. I stitched the Little House Needleworks design from the 2007 JSC Christmas ornament issue. Excuse the poor photo! My first finish for 2008 is a Mosey 'n' Me freebie on opalescent fabric. I notice that the Christmas tree charm, which is supposed to be in Santa's hand, is attempting to fly away! Again...excuse the photo!
My first start for 2008 is the historic mystery sampler from The Gift of Stitching magazine. I'm using the suggested Dinky Dyes silks and am loving them! I've never used Dinky Dyes before and I'm impressed. Just holding them is like what I think it would be like to hold a cloud ~ SO soft and fluffy. That brown blob will be a stag eventually!
On Sunday my stitching group had our annual holiday get together. We always wait until January after the craziness of the holiday season. We had such a great day -- too much eating, lots of talking and some stitching! I was introduced to French Vanilla Kahlua. I can see a new addiction in my future!!

Front from left: Claudia and Debbie

Rear: Helene, Teresa, Neila, Char

HOLIDAY CATCH UP

Our holidays were wonderful! Aimee arrived Thursday morning and Erik came that evening. We spent time doing that last minute shopping for all those people who had nothing on their shopping lists! Actually we did quite good coming up with the "perfect" gifts. Saturday afternoon Aimee and I went to Ellie's theatre production of "The Best Christmas Pageant". We previously went on opening night (the day after Thanksgiving and the day her sister was born!) so it was fun to see it a second time. I was so blown away by the caliber of this community theatre production. It was GREAT and, of course, Ellie was the cutest baby angel on that stage! That evening Erik, Aimee and I went to see Sweeney Todd. Not sure I liked the movie, but I did like the performances of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

Sunday Aimee babysat for Sophie in the afternoon. It snowed mountains during the day and the roads were horrible. I had tickets for Vikings/Redskins game that night and I wasn't going to waste them. Erik and I left VERY early and made our way downtown to the Metrodome. It was tough walking from the parking lot to the Dome because a lot of the sidewalks hadn't been cleaned yet and there was ice under all the snow. By the time we got to the Dome, I was actually winded and my thighs were aching. They had swept the snow off the ramps around the Dome, but there was still ice. We saw a guy laying on the ramp before us and security came rushing over. The guy had slipped on the ice and hit his head. We walked slowly and tenderly around the man and the security guard and I proceeded to slip on the ice myself. Fortunately I fell on my side and didn't get hurt. Erik helped me up and then he almost fell. That concerned me because he had knee surgery a year ago and I didn't want him screwing up the knee again. We continued walking to our gate holding onto the chain link fence. When I got to the gate I told security that they needed to get something on that ice or people were going to get seriously injured. I could just see all the drunks trying to walk on that. Unfortunately my Vikings lost...boo hoo.

Christmas Eve we packed up the cars with all the gifts for Tony, Darcy, Ellie and Sophie and headed to their house. They usually come here on Christmas Eve, but this year we decided to go there so they didn't have to take Sophie out. It was great! I brought the traditional meal of lasagne with me. After we ate it was on to gift opening. Ellie and Sophie made out like bandits! Since Aimee works on the Disney Shopping and Disney Store websites, she was able to gets lots and lots of items at their sample sale so Ellie truly had a High School Musical Christmas. I think she got EVERY HSM musical item on the site!

We gave Ellie the High School Musical video game. At first she didn't understand what it was, but when she saw the microphone and realize she could sing all the songs karaokee style, she was all over it! She's such a competitor....only A+ was good enough! One of the best performances was when she and her Auntie Aimee shared the microphone!

Then it was on to some Wii!! Ellie played a wicked game of tennis and almost beat everyone bowling. Boxing kind of did her in, but she had fun!

I had to get a family photo! Tony, Darcy, Ellie and Sophie on Christmas Eve.

Yesterday was Chuck's birthday and today is Darcy's birthday. We celebrated last night by going to Famous Dave's for their fabulous feast. I got to spend lots of time cuddling Sophie. I can't believe how big she is getting and how she is filling out. She's 6 weeks old already!
We also went to the Science Museum of Minnesota after dinner last night to see the Pompeii exhibit. I have always been very interested in Pompeii and seeing the exhibit was fantastic. They have 3 of the original body casts which were very moving. I so enjoyed seeing the foods, paintings, mosiacs, etc. It must have been a marvelous city before it was destroyed.

Scary Thought!

Yes 62%
No 28%

Lets101 Quizzes - Myspace Quizzes For Fun

My Cross Stitch Likes

I am participating in a scissor fob cross stitch exchange and, as part of that, I am posting the things I like and those I dislike (which aren't many!)

Designers: I like most of the currently popular designers ~ Little House and Country Cottage Needleworks, Prairie Schooler, Bent Creek, Glendon Place, Lizzie Kate, Heart In Hand, The Workbasket, The Trilogy, Victoria's Sampler, BlackBird Designs, Long Dog Samplers, etc.. I particularly like anything sampler or Quaker related, Victorian and primitive designs, anything autumn, Halloween, snowmen and snowflakes, gingerbread men, and fairies. I don't like most things cartoony.

Fabric: I use mainly 32 or 36 count linen or evenweave fabrics, and particularly love very mottled hand-dyed fabrics with slubs! Of course, with my stash of hand-dyed fabrics, I often discover I have no ivory, antique white or white when I need it.

Fibers: I use mostly overdyed fibers. I particularly like Carrie's Creations, but also like Crescent Colors, Six Stranded Sweets, GAST and Weeks. I haven't done too much with silks yet, but I would like to experiment more with them.

Miscellaneous: I love candy canes and most things peppermint, including the Twisted Peppermint stuff at Bath and Bodyworks. I'm not particularly fond of chocolate. I love coffees and teas of all sorts. I also like Victorian-appearing muted colors of fabrics and ribbons. I collect fun buttons. I also LOVE Yankee candles. I have candles burning all the time at home.

I guess that's me in a nutshell!

My Jane Austen Character

Take the Quiz here!