Texas Lady

Mardi Gras Owl (still basted)

Mermaid

Brand X design

Peacock

I managed to get a little time in the sewing room today.  I’m doing designs for the outside pockets of tote bags I’m making.  Most of them are 8″ x 12″ except the Brand X design that came out awful (because I resized it and changed the colors to match the bag—-they didn’t match afterwards either).  The mermaid and the peacock will be on tote bags.  I intended to use the owl on the cover of an ottoman that’s in my office but it may be beyond reupholstering at this point.

We have finally bought the majority of new furniture for the house and most of it is fully installed.  We still have to decorate and buy night stands for the bedroom but it’s coming together little by little.  R replaced one of the toilets today, too, so things are looking up house-wise.

I just took my sleeping pill.  Gypsy goes in for a dental cleaning at 7:30 AM so I’ll have to get up and get going early.  It’ll be one of those hurry-up-and-wait days because I drop her early then pick her up about 3:30 PM and will have to arrange the rest of the day to suit.  I have a purse started; maybe I can get it stitched together.  I bought a new laptop but wasn’t pleased with it (custom-ordered from HP) and FedEx-ed it back this morning.  I had bought one from Ebay that I also sent back.  So this will be my 3rd strike at getting what I want.  I’ve been looking at gaming machines because I need the speed, the RAM and the video aspects for my embroidery software editing program(s)…..I’ll figure it all out when it’s time.

So, good night to all.  And to all, good things………C

This is the BR set we want

The uncompleted side of the LR

My side of the living room

Last month we started a trip down Redecorate Your House Lane.  We added 2 wooden dog crates for the little dogs, a dog couch for any/all of them, replaced/upsized the media cabinet and the TV set, then donated the couch and loveseat to the kids yesterday and today.  Next they’ll bring our new mattress and low-profile base and then the kids will pick up the old mattress and box springs.  We’ve down-sized out of the chest of drawers and one night stand so they could take those already.  We’ve been to multiple furniture stores looking at bedroom sets, so when they’re delivered the last of our old will go to the kids.  We think we know which bedroom suite we want now, so it’s just a matter of getting over there and paying for it.  The new LR drapes came in today and are up.  The pan liners for the new walnut dog crates came in today.  I pulled out all of the dog blankets and washed them up then put them where they’ll be the most effective color-wise.  Now I just need to decorate the fireplace mantle and buy the big rug for the living room, and the hall runners.  We’re getting there!

Who the hell knows?!!!!!!!  This is the first day I’ve had time to myself since before the holidays and I’ve really enjoyed the ME time.  R is out of town so I’ve just done what I wanted to since I got home from taking 2 dogs to the vet for their yearly vaccinations.  Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ve done anything exciting.  I watched a movie I had recorded that R didn’t want to see, soaked in the tub, did 2 loads of laundry, did a mini-pedi, and cuddled a few canines.  Then I paid bills, brushed and flossed, and now on the laptop.  I’m totally relaxed and getting ready for bed since it’s almost 1 A.M.

I thought I’d start 2016 with a bright, new look for my blog.  The old pink was getting sickening to me–even I didn’t want to see it anymore.  Let me know what you think.  I’m ready for a little excitement again.

I haven’t done any sewing since xmas.  I have bought fabric & supplies to start on tote bags and purses but we made a zag in plans since then.  We have been replacing some furniture and electronics and moving things around the casa a bit.  Yesterday we went to 4 furniture stores (I made R go in the last one alone; I was toast by then), then to Office Depot and then to Target where we bought a floor lamp.  Furniture- 6 Lindseys- 1  I’m done for a while.  We have a glass-front cabinet ordered that should be in next week, 2 end tables/dog crates that were due in today but didn’t make it, and a dog couch due the beginning of next week, too.  Then I have to buy either 2 loveseats or a loveseat and a chair for the living room….then the bedroom will be next.  If I was doing it myself it would be over now, but pleasing my other half is the battle.  I was too tired to argue any more yesterday.  Even the salesman tried to talk R out of it but he was adamant.  I gave up; he can sit on the floor for all I care at this point!  LOL  We did find a gorgeous bedroom suite but I’m not sure it would fit in our bedroom so that’s on hold, perhaps indefinitely.  It was pretty enough for me to take photos of it, so I was impressed.

Tomorrow is my girlie nail appointment and more ME time.  I have a computer to fix that belongs to one of R’s friends (neighbor) and my 2015 records to back up on DVD and label for the year-end.  Then I can sew with no more interruptions…until the dogs go back to the vet for their dental cleanings.  LOL  It’s always something but it keeps me going.

Baby’s First Christmas stocking for great granddaughter, Lena

Fleece blanket for little girl next door named, Remy

Fleece blanket made for little girl next door named Saiya

Fleece blanket with xmas stocking applique for the kitty who lives next door whose name is Brena.

Xmas stocking appliqued onto a fleece dog blanket for a dog named Zazzles next door.

This is what I’ve been working on the past few days and this is the last of the xmas sewing.  I still have to make 2 more toddler beds but there’s no time limit on it so I’ll get a break first.  I actually intended to label some extra xmas stockings I bought yesterday but by tonight I was too tired to care…brain dead.

Today was my mom’s birthday so we took her out to lunch and piddled around with her and her dogs for a while.  Tomorrow we celebrate xmas here as a family.  On Xmas day we’ll celebrate R’s birthday and probably lay around and groan a lot.  Don’t expect much!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday celebration whatever it is.  We love you all!………..

The dogs are ready for Santa

I don’t normally get too excited about xmas.  Since I’m not Xian it’s a non-holiday for me but I won’t go into my gripes here.  For some reason this season I have a smidgen of holiday spirit going.  I’ve done more holiday sewing this year than I ever have; it’s a good thing I got an early start.  To date I have made: 10 fleece blankets, some embroidered, some appliqued, some just hemmed; 7 toddler beds, 6 of which were embellished, and 6 xmas stockings (some were a total loss and had to be redone due to crappy fabric paint).  I have bought and sewn xmas gifts for children I’ve seen once, a dog and a cat who live next door, children I will never meet who live hundreds of miles away, one for a child who lives several states away, one for a child in the UK, and three for our own local great-grandkids.  Out of all this productivity I have one blanket embroidery still in the hoop and a whole slew of new stockings to finish by xmas eve (when we celebrate).  I don’t know how much I’ve spent buying stocking stuffers and miscellaneous gifts for people I hardly know, but it seemed important to me so I did it.

I just told R that in 48 hours we will once more be able to see the inside of our garage.  Each toddler bed (7) requires 4 standard bed pillows; we still have 12 pillows stacked in our garage.  Now I will admit that our garage normally looks like a dumping ground and the existing pile is sitting on…something…my husband can’t tell me and he’s the one who piled it there almost 15 years ago.  I know it doesn’t move if you hit your foot on it.  His explanation was it’s his “stuff”.  I used to put my car in the garage but no longer.  I am actually looking forward to seeing that pile of refuse once more when the pillows move out on xmas eve.  And I was told tonight that I need to make 2 more toddler beds…but they will provide the pillows.  Thank the gods!

Since I have been so jolly of late I have also taken fine care of myself.  I bought myself a used sewing/embroidery combo machine from Ebay ($850) for my xmas gift from me to me and a few knick knacks for it.  I turned frustration to fancy when I couldn’t get an appointment with my hair dresser of 22 years until mid-January.  I changed to another stylist who co-owns the shop where I get my facials.  So yesterday I had my hair cut and colored ($165) and today I had a facial ($115).  So Cheri’s xmas is moving right along.

I’ve bought nothing for R.  He wants a trolling motor for his boat which will cost about what my Ebay sewing machine cost so it’s a toy he’ll have to buy for himself.  I liken it to him trying to buy me a sewing machine.  No telling what garbage I’d end up with.  Same with me and trolling motors.  It’s outta my league!  But I bought him a card; does that count?  He bought me an anniversary card; I got him a deluxe reading light and took him out to dinner.  It evens out, right?

I only wanted to write a note but it’s turning into a novel so I’ll close.  Next time I’ll try to post of pictures of what I’ve been doing.  Goodnight…….

Daddy, Mimi and Zoe playing on the floor

I can’t believe it’s taken me an entire month to post again.  It’s been a roller coaster ride of health-related issues: good days when I got a lot accomplished and bad days when I never got out of my nightgown or off the couch.  I’ve had my medications changed 3 times and finally just stopped taking them anymore.  I’ll just have to deal with the consequences as they come.  Crap!!!!!

Good news is that R retired 3 weeks ago.  We’re adjusting to the different pace and getting ready to adjust for the financial consequences here at xmas.  I don’t expect either to be deal-breakers; we’ll take it as it comes.  It just may be a thin xmas.

Bad news is I haven’t spent any time in the sewing room until the last week and then sparingly.  I have finished a gift for one of R’s co-workers that they’ll pick up tomorrow.  I have another gift in progress, a project for a friend’s kids, and then a couple of xmas gifts for my great-grands, etc.  I have fabric for 5-6 dog blankets to donate and some purse patterns to learn and some old purse patterns to make more of.  I also have a blouse and a nightgown for myself cut out and partly stitched that I’ll try to finish.  All things come to those who wait…and wait…and wait???  LOL

…and here I am again.  It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve felt like posting anything.  I’ve been having issues with a change in my medication that has knocked me for a loop.  I think I’m coming out of the tunnel now and beginning to take my life back.  It’s been one of those “sure, you can take this medication together” but I can’t take those medications together.  Something weird about my body chemistry makes medications react differently.  So the doctor changed one of them which resulted in even more side effects so I went back to the first one (and, of course, had the same issues).  So I Googled them and found out that a different one was the culprit so I stopped that one instead and now I’m feeling a bit better.  Go figure!  So, now that I’m feeling human again I’ll pick up where I left off.  Next step is to make an appointment to get my back checked out and remedied.  That’s on the To Do list for tomorrow.  Today I made a hair appointment and called the dentist.  That doesn’t seem like much but it’s the most business I’ve taken care of in 3 weeks!  I’m bound and determined to get back in stride and get something accomplished again.  I’ve spent far too many days in my nightgown on the couch and I’m ready to start living again.  Dammit!  LOL

…and all the supplies bought to accomplish something.  I started at Starbucks, then went to Best Buy for a(n) HDMI cable.  After that I went to Petsmart for fish food and then to Hancock’s for fabric.  I just finished reloading a desktop for delivery tomorrow and am about to wash fleece in order to start making dog blankets for donation again (since the weather is cooling off they will be in demand once more).  I just updated our website and am about to go reconnect the HDMI cable to our Blue-Ray player that I borrowed yesterday to work on the PC.  I have clothes in the dryer that’ll have to be re-tumbled and hung up/folded before I can dry the fleece so I’m just checking in and on my way to busy-ness!  Have a wonderful day!

The theme for the baby shower was a circus.  I made these for the parents since I fell in love with the designs and they fit so well with the theme that I had to have them on something.

Getting ready for bed.  Mimi came through her dental cleaning with flying colors.  She lost one tooth but it hasn’t seemed to faze her. She’s in bed with R right now soaking up the extra attention (I had to shame him into it LOL).  Bandit is on the schedule in two weeks then Zoe will go after him.  Hopefully next year we won’t have to do any dentals at all.  I’m trying to get ahead while they’re all healthy and happy.  The only one remaining on a daily maintenance prescription is Fancy (Benazepril) which she’ll take every night for the rest of her life (she turns 15 in November).  So it’s a good time to play catch up while we have less out-of-pocket expense after down-sizing our pack.

I’ve felt better today even though I’ve spent most of it in the car behind the wheel.  Besides taking Mimi to Friendswood to the vet (then making another trip to Friendswood to pick her up, of course) I got to do a transfer of two cats from Missouri City to Friendswood then come back home.  It got me out of the house for a bit and the weather was mostly sunny so I didn’t mind.  But I do feel it in my leg tonight from too much sitting.  It’s always something.  <smiles>

Today has been one of “those” days.  It started with R sleeping through his alarm—twice—and it woke me up (and I woke him up).  I managed to get back to sleep but then Fancy started barking when R shut the front door to leave for work…and she barked almost continually for at least 15 minutes (the last time) while sitting in the dark in the middle of the living room.  I went in there twice to call her back to the bedroom until daylight.  She’d follow me then return to the living room to bark.  The last time I just decided to let her bark until she got tired of it and stopped, but, of course, she didn’t stop.  I finally went back to her and told her to come to bed…and she did.  Tomorrow R is going to feed her something before he leaves and see if she’s just hungry.  He said he usually gives her a bite of something but didn’t this morning since he was running late, so she was either pissed off or her blood sugar was down and she felt bitchy.  LOL  It may have been separation anxiety since she didn’t start until R left the house but it was sure aggravating.

Then I had another nightmare and woke up shaking.  That’s never a good way to start the day.  After I fed the pooches I got on the laptop for a bit until I started feeling really bad and developed a migraine.  Back to the couch to recover and I never really got free from the couch after that.  I watched some TV, had a coffee, etc., until I felt better (4 PM).  Then I got in the bath tub for a soak.  As I lay there I was thinking how pleasant it was to soak in hot water and have no dogs bothering me for once.  Then when I sat up I saw 3 little female critters looking back at me…and felt so guilty for that thought.

So here I sit in my nightgown and it’s 5:15.  I have no idea what I’m going to do about dinner or if I’ll get out of my nightgown today.  Not one of the better days lately, but I’ve finished the steroids so hope things will get rosier soon.  The only time I’ve left the house in two days was yesterday morning to get blood drawn.  I’m missing Starbucks!  Haven’t been there since Monday.  Today I was going to be so productive (since I wasn’t yesterday) but it didn’t happen.  <sigh>  There’s always tomorrow, right?