A Much Needed Rest

Life is funny sometimes. Just when I was beginning to make plans for the next phase of my life, I find out it's not going to be what I thought.

In mid-December we found that we needed to move my Dad from Arizona to live with us in Kennewick. Thankfully we didn't have to do it immediately so we could get through the holidays and do a little household maneuvering before driving down. Mid-January Gary and I spent a week going thru the house and packing up the few things Dad needs, and getting him home with us. He did great on the trip, as did his little dog, Max.

Dad doesn't need skilled nursing, just some love and meals - and his meds. Still it does require me to rethink what the next ten years will be like. One thing I know, Dad's getting a little stronger and happier each day and life is good for him.

After all the work preparing for and actually moving Dad, I'm really ready for a little vacation in the sun! DH and I are about to embark on Carnival Glory heading for the W. Caribbean.

Ready . . . Set. . . Relax. . .

Vacation Stitching

It was so nice to be able to pull A Legacy of Love out of the stitching bag during my vacation. I wish more could have been accomplished, but considering it was a family vacation, camping, I wasn't really off duty. :)

With only one more set of flowers to stitch in the middle section, I'm feeling like working on this design some more. Or maybe I'm wanting to avoid thinking about all the things we have yet to do for the wedding! Only six weeks to go - ack!!

A Little More

Progress, that is, on A Legacy of Love. As of now I'm at the half way point. Think I better make this my focus piece for the month and finish it. :)

The rain showers keep coming back. While I'd really appreciate some more sunny days, the lawn and garden are green and lush with all the mild, moisture laden days of late.

So much going on with more birthdays for my grandson Jaeger (5) and dd Mystie, a wedding for a friend's son (which was rained out of the outdoor venue with record-breaking rain), softball games and practices, a landscaping project, a 31st wedding anniversary for me and DH, another graduation party to prep for. . . 

Blogging has fallen way low on my to do list, but I'll eventually get around to visiting with all of you - hang in there with me!  :D

Pitiful

That's what I call the progress I've made on my VS Retreat project.

Perhaps you are like me in that when I'm with a group of stitchers, like at the retreat, I lose the ability to count. Before the retreat I had the fabric marked off into the various panels and center lines gridded. That's as much as I could do. At the retreat Thea wanted us to get in the satin stitches for the drawn thread portion of the four panels.

No problem. Counted away, put in my stitches, pulled threads, only to discover later that the number of stiches wasn't quite right. But still not a big deal,  just an opportunity for making the design my own, lol.  Now as I've gone on stitching, I've found that the placement of the section is off as well.

So the creativity continues . . .

A Day at the Lake

This weekend Gary and I have run away from home to Lake Chelan for a meeting of some of the larger insurance  agencies in the state. Yesterday's skies were full of ominous-looking clouds, so what a surprise to wake up to a gorgeous sunny day!

Later a group of us will be visiting some of the local wineries while others play golf. I hope this fine weather stays around all day!

Victoria View

One of the views from my 9th story hotel room of the downtown and inner harbor areas of Victoria. While the sun shone brightly on Thursday, most of the weekend was a mix of light rain showers and clouds with some sun breaks. But I wasn't there for the weather! More about the VS Retreat coming up.

Definitely Not Home

This is not what you see out of any of my windows at home! This is Olympia, the very green capital of the state of Washington. Following a lovely drive over Hwy 12, Mt. Rainier shrouded in gray misty clouds, I easily found Connie's new home and we proceeded to have a great catch up visit. It was so good to see her DH, John, mostly recovered from his stroke and back to his jovial self, and little Lizzie so grown up and gorgeous!

Of course we talked stitching! Connie brought out her latest designs, and I gotta tell you they are truly something to drool over! Check out The Lacey Thread on Facebook, or her website to get a get a look once they're released.

Well, next up is Port Angeles where I'll catch the ferry over to Victoria.

Deluge

The streets of Puerto Vallarta are small rivers running to the sea this afternoon. The day began bright, sunny, and warm when DH and I set out from the ship to explore the town. We took a local bus that bounced us down to an older section of town. The more authentic markets and old churches are much better than hanging out at Diamonds International.

As we explored, I kept my eye on an ominous sky that soon darkened the day and rain began to fall. We ducked into an internet cafe to kill some time. Soon the skies opened and have been dumping rain for a couple hours now. They tell us it's been a wet season this year, not normal at all. Guess the weather is strange everywhere on this continent right now.

Still, we're having a great time, eating delicious food, and we didn't pay big bucks for an excursion today! :D

Cruisin' With My Valentine

LA is sunny, warm, and gorgeous today; a perfect day to start a 7-day Mexico cruise! Our stateroom has a balcony so we can soak up all the sunshine possible. We arrived fairly early and checking in was totally a breeze.

Fisher Communications has done a wonderful job taking care of all the little details from the time we left Pasco airport. Makes you want to sign another advertising contract with them, and that's the point, isn't it. :)

I'm not sure I'll be able to post much while we're gone, so I'll wish you all a sunny week! 

Just Dropping In

I've been using my stitching chair a bit this week and made some progress on Blossom. Using more color has been fun, but I can't wait to get to the border to use Dinky Dyes Luna Park, a gorgeous variegated floss.

Today was AHG. We're working on the Social Skills and Etiquette badge and the troop is hosting a dessert social fund raiser next month. My Pioneer girls will be making centerpieces for the event, so we spent some time looking at books and talking about ideas. Then we learned some special napkin folds from some library books, which definitely were lacking in clear instructions. Still the girls were able to figure out some of the folds and had fun doing it.

The boys have finals at school this week, and Kevin just informed me that he's missing his sketch pad which needs to be turned in to his art teacher - argh!  I found Kirsten's grammar book today, so perhaps I can find this too.