Punch List

DH and I have made a loooong punch list of repairs and partially finished projects to finish around the house. This has to be done before we can sell by next spring. Boy, what a lot of work. Shame on us for letting it pile up.

We visited the school we hope to send DS/8 to when we move. Our meeting and tour was very informative. The school is small, only 1 classroom per grade, so the students get a lot of one-on-one attention. We are pleased with what we saw. The challenge, now, is to find some property to build on, or home that will suit our needs.

In stitching news, it's pretty boring. I'm still stitching the coral on Fish Medley. I'll post a photo as soon as I complete it. All that's left, after the coral, is one more fish and the backstitching. I'm anxious to complete it because I have some other kitted projects I'm itching to do, along with a few WIPs.

Welcome to the Beach!

Completed "Beach" by DS/8


"Beach" Pillow

As promised, here's the first cross stitch project completed by my DS/8! He wanted me to make a pillow case, with "Beach", for his room. He's already moved ahead to "First Snow" freebie by Drawn Thread and "In the Graveyard" by The Monkey Works.

Cross Stitching buddies

Since my DS/8 has learned to cross stitch, he's my new stitching buddy. He has finished his first project and I'll post a photo as soon as I take one. He has already started on his second project, another freebie called "First Snow" from Drawn Thread. He uses a needle threader so he needs very little assistance now.

I have started on the coral part of Fish Medley. Once I'm finished with the coral, I still need to stitch one more small fish and do all the back stitching. I must say that this project has been enjoyable to stitch (I think it's because of the bright colors and the encouragement I get from my DS/8).

Today, DH and I went for a drive in the country to get an idea of where we want to move in a couple of years. One of his brothers already lives roughly in the area we are considering. What a life change it will be to move away from the "big city". We also would love to build a solar home. If anyone has some info or good websites I could check out to get information about solar home building, just leave me a comment. I plan to go to the library and get whatever is available there on the subject.

Cross Stitching Update and New Stitcher!

Flame Angelfish Closeup


Flame Angelfish

I actually have been stitching this past week and this week. I just hadn't taken pictures until today! I also have been teaching my DS/8 how to cross stitch. He's really into it. He's stitching a freebie from
Rainbow Gallery.
To the Beach

To the Beach model
My son stitches and then I frog a little, then he stitches some more. I have him using DMC floss rather than the Rainbow Gallery threads, since I didn't have those on hand. I wanted to make a pillow out of his design, but he wants a bag, so we'll see.

Girls' Gathering Weekend

The ladies in our family had our latest gathering at the Lodge at Pickwick Lake this past weekend. We had a great time. I think there were 17 of us who attended this time around. Pic of DD/23:


(My DD and I only stayed Friday night and left Saturday because of the "Memphis Meets the Beatles" event that DH was a part of Saturday night.) Everyone seemed to have a great time and we had a lot of laughs playing "our version" of games. We had teams and drew a card (as in the game, Taboo), that had a word to be drawn for the opposing team to guess. We used a large dry erase board for the drawing or we could act out the word. Let's just say we saw some graphic drawing with words like "Monica Lewinsky" and "toilet" and bizarre behavior with words like "exotic dancer" and "hurry". It was great just seeing everyone again.
Our "Pampered Princess" for this weekend was Toya.

She got a lot of neat gifts and was waited on. Next time, the "Pampered Princess" will be Donna. We are already looking forward to next year!

Memphis Meets the Beatles!

Jock, Dani, Matt "Izzy", and Zack Mack

The CD Release Party for the Memphis Meets the Beatles: Fried Glass Onions CD was held at Isaac Hayes Club this past Saturday night. My DH was part of the house band and they performed three sets of Beatles' music. Dani performed "Old Brown Shoe", "Blackbird", and "Oh, Darling". Each of the performers sung a few songs, with "Back in the USSR" and "Come Together" getting standing ovations. There was even a group that had flown in from Liverpool, England, just for the show! The musicians and singers involved are some of Memphis' finest, such as Kevin Paige, Rick Nethery, Daddy Mack Orr, to name just a few. You can see more of photos of this event here...