Mini Vacation to Chattanooga

Watch Out for the Shark!


DH, DS/8 and I flew to Chattanooga, TN, on Wednesday and returned Thursday. We visited the Tennessee Aquarium, the world's largest freshwater aquarium, and Ruby Falls, America's highest underground waterfall. The weather was great and it wasn't humid like it is in Memphis.

On Wednesday, at the aquarium, we were able to touch stingrays, sharks, and sturgeons. My DS/8 loved it! There was an entire exhibit of seahorses, too. We spent several hours at the aquarium which is in two buildings. One is the Ocean journey and the other is the River journey. At the top of the Ocean Journey Building is the Butterfly Tropical Garden. It was breathtaking.
Many species of butterflies were everywhere.
Visiting the Tennessee Aquarium website before our trip made it very helpful to identify the fish, sharks and seahorses. I highly recommend taking the time to go through each page, of the interactive portion, if you are taking school-age children. It made it more interesting to my son and me.

Following the aquarium visit, we walked up to the BluffView Art District and saw the large-scale outdoor sculptures along the way. After passing the exhibits, we were able to walk across Walnut Street Bridge, for pedestrians, that crossed over the Tennessee River to North Shore.
Walnut Street Bridge
(The red, black & white thing around DS/8's neck is his souvenir stuffed snake!

On the bridge we had a great view of the skyline and Coolidge Park. Before walking back over the bridge, we stopped in Mudpie Coffeehouse and had some coffee. Later, we ate dinner at Big River Grille (located 1/2 block from the aquarium). After dinner, we caught the free shuttle by to the hotel to watch the finale of American Idol.

On Thursday, we had breakfast at City Cafe Diner, then set out for the trip to see Ruby Falls. We had a great view of the town of Chattanooga from Lookout Mountain following our tour of Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls also has a lesson plan (in case you homeschool or just for fun.) While driving back down the mountain, we stopped in a roadside shop that had handmade quilts.
What eye candy!!!! This quilt featured ants eating a picnic lunch.
Picnic Quilt

All in all, we had a great trip. If we visit again, I'd like to see more of the Art District.

Happy Dance on Final Fish

Squarespot Basslet

I finally completed the last fish on Fish Medley! This fish has also been backstitched. I only need to backstitch the other four fish to complete. Yay! This fish was also shown as a frame piece by itself in the Cross My Heart leaflet called "The Ocean".


Thursday night was Bunco night and I won the door prize. It was a "Jolly Rancher" candle. It smelled good enough to eat! We all had a great time together and had lots of laughs, especially when my cousin, Michael, had to wear a strand of pearls around his neck because he won a round of Bunco! (He was subbing for a player who couldn't attend). I'm already looking forward to next month.

Last night DH played 2 shows at Isaac Hayes. We all had a great time. The crowd really got into the music. DH will post pics soon on his blog.

Awards & Autographs

My DS/8 won a CD boom box at school for being the Top Accelerated Reader in his class! He is so excited! I'm so proud of him. His last day of 2nd grade is Friday. He is ready for summer break.

My DH played with the band in Bixby, Oklahoma, this past weekend, which meant a road trip. They had a great time. The event was Bixby BBQ & Blues Festival. The town built a new amphitheater following last year's festival, so it was a great place to play music. There was a crowd of around 2,000 and they really enjoyed the show. DH even signed a few autographs. They will playing again this Friday night at Isaac Hayes Club.

In stitching news, I've completed all the coral and the last fish on Fish Medley. I have begun the backstitching. I'll try to post a pic soon. The last fish is really colorful.

Bunco Night is tomorrow night and I'm really looking forward to it.

Designer Teresa Wentzler on Indefinite Hiatus

Teresa Wentzler has announced she will no longer design cross stitch patterns indefinitely. You can read more about this surprising news at the Teresa Wentzler Bulletin Board.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Taneya!

Choose 5 and complete the sentence...

If I could be a scientist . . .
If I could be a farmer . . .
If I could be a musician . . .
If I could be a doctor . . .
If I could be a painter . . .
If I could be a gardener . . .
If I could be a missionary . . .
If I could be a chef . . .
If I could be an architect . . .
If I could be a linguist . . .
If I could be a psychologist . . .
If I could be a librarian . . .
If I could be an athlete . . .
If I could be a lawyer . . .
If I could be an inn-keeper . . .
If I could be a professor . . .
If I could be a writer . . .
If I could be a llama-rider . . .
If I could be a bonnie pirate . . .
If I could be an astronaut . . .
If I could be a world famous blogger . . .
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world . . .
If I could be married to any current famous political figure . . .

If I could be a writer...I'd write lyrics. It would be very cool to hear your song on the radio. That would be very cool. Songs can also outlive you.

If I could be a musician...I'd be a piano player/harmonica playing guitarist.
But, since I'm not, I married a piano playing/mandolin playing/guitarist.
Pretty clever, eh?

If I could be a professor...I'd teach web design. My DS/19 taught himself to make websites by buying manuals and learning everything from scratch. No copy and paste for him. I get excited when something works correctly on my blog, so I know it would be a thrill to learn and teach others web design.

If I could be a painter...I'd paint with intricate detail. My paintings could then be converted to cross stitch. It would be nice to have a gallery and those who stitched could take home the kit of a painting. It's the Paula Vaughn concept.

If I could be a missionary...I believe it would make me more appreciative of all aspects of my life. My daughter has been on a few mission trips, as have many of our friends. Each of them, upon return home, have a more unmaterialistic mind and value relationships more than ever before. For every one I know who's been on a mission trip, it has changed their life. You can read about my friend, Grace, who is a missionary here. Her father has an orphanage in Brazil.

Now it's my turn to tag some people. So here it goes: Debbi, Lake Stitcher, and Musings from a 3-Bedroom Ranch.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you blogging moms!

Following church, we went out for lunch and to the cemetery. We put flowers on my MIL's marker. There were quite a few people on the grounds because of Mother's Day, I guess. We even saw a family having a picnic there, lawn chairs and all! I must admit, that was a little strange. We saw a woman sitting on the ground engrossed in a conversation, very animated with her arms and hands, but she was there alone. I suppose she was talking to her mom who had passed away.

I treated my mom to dinner last night for Mother's Day. She saw DH play music with the Dani band for the first time. We enjoyed spending time together. (She didn't raise me and our relationship has had its ups and downs, so I'm thankful for the good times).

I was able to see all 3 of my children today which was a treat. Each one told me they loved me. That's the best! DS/8 gave me some petunias and DD/23 gave me a bouquet of spring flowers. DS/19 gave me lots of hugs. It's all good!

DH gave me $ to spend on a few things, like the top I wore to dinner last night. He's the best!!

Bookcrossing & DeCluttering

De-Cluttering
I released a few books into the "wild" yesterday. Bookcrossing is a way to pass on books. If you enjoy reading, but have a hard time getting rid of books, this is a great way to pass them on and it's fun. I visit library book sales and buy books from .10 to $2.00.

Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at:
Bookcrossing

Please show "Institches" as your referrer if you sign up. See the books I've set free...here

Mirabilia's New Freebie!

Mirabilia has a new free design, Bumblebee. I don't know if I'll stitch it, but I'm keeping it in a file just in case. I want to stitch some of the free angels first.

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...

Hectic Week

This has been a hectic week. I have stitched on Fish Medley and almost completed another fish. I hope to post a progress photo soon, maybe Sunday.

I'm preparing for our annual Girl's Gathering at the lake.
to do:
20 copies of recipe -in process
gift for "princess-for-a-weekend" -done
food to share -not yet
pack -not yet

I'd better get busy!

In the middle of other chores, I get the bright idea to make DH some business cards. The main problem with that is my publishing program isn't user friendly. After blowing way too much time, I hopefully have forwarded it to be printed. We'll see.

This morning, DH had a TV appearance with the band, Dani, to promote the compilation cd of Beatles tunes. It went great! You can view the show here. A CD Release Party at Isaac Hayes Club is scheduled for Saturday night. There will be 3 sets of music. DH will be playing with all the other musicians that recorded for the CD. He's looking forward to it.

Performance at Isaac Hayes Club

DH performed with Dani at Isaac Hayes Club again last night. It was a great evening and the music was outstanding. Okay, so I'm partial. The restaurant was packed and the crowd really enjoyed the band. You can read more about the evening and upcoming gigs here...

My DS/18, who's in college, was able to go with us. He's toned down the "scary look" somewhat, so he wasn't getting stared at by strangers (LOL). I plan on seeing him again tomorrow and taking him a "care package" of groceries for his dorm.

Last night I also picked up a couple of packs of fake fingernails to try out. They worked great! I plan to use them more often. I had to remove them today, though, because I can't wash dishes and clean with them. I wish I had tried them a long time ago. I can't count how many times I've tried to paint my nails, only to mess a few up before I could get out the door!

I haven't stitched any the past couple of days, but hopefully, I'll get a chance later tonight or tomorrow night.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL MY BLOGGING BUDDIES!!!!!!

Bunco Night

We had Bunco this past Thursday. Once again, I was the loser. However, the loser gets a gift, also! My gift was a khaki tote bag made by Totes. It is water-resistant and has a zipper. Inside is a place for cell phone. It's perfect for my cross stitch or quilting projects! My DD/23 played Bunco, also. We had a great time. We added a third table and play with twelve players. It's a fun time to look forward to each month.

Prize won at Bunco

Inside View

Fish Medley Progress

I finally finished stitching the Moorish Idol angel fish. Now, I'm on to stitching the Flame Angelfish. It should go quickly because the colors are bold and aren't hard on the eyes. I would really like to have this finished by the end of March.

Moorish Idol Close Up

Fish Medley Progress

Prodigal Son

After not hearing from my DS/18 for about 7 weeks, yesterday, he finally asked to meet me for lunch. He's in college in town and making some "interesting" choices. Last time I saw him, he had a pink mohawk, but now he has short hair and a beard. I'm thankful I was able to tell him that I love him and give him a hug. I have been able to keep tabs on him as far as knowing he's been in school, etc. I haven't slept well ever since he left our home during winter break. I am praying for him.

DH got hurt work yesterday. He got hit in the brow of his face with a metal rod that came out of a bag he was loading in an airplane. He had to get 4-5 stitches and now it's bruising. He's fine now, with the exception of a headache!

I'm still stitching the large angel fish in Fish Medley. Hopefully, I'll finish it over the weekend and post a photo.

Frogging out the fish

I would have completed the angel fish portion of Fish Medley by now, but no. Instead, I had to frog out a section I'd been cross stitching. Oh well, now I'm pressing forward and hope to finish this fish by the end of the week. I'll post a progress pic then. I'm showing restraint in not starting an additional project. I really want to finish this for my son, and then move on to a few other WIP's.

I received my 6" fabric squares in an Yahoo Groups I-Spy swap I participated in this past month. What a cool idea. I haven't decided which quilt pattern I will use for the next quilt. I would love to have a copy of Ami Simm's book, Picture Play Quilts, to get some ideas and tips. Her website has a gallery of quilts sent in by quilters who used designs from her book. There are other quilt galleries on her site at well.