Brrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!

Hard to believe it's been a week since I last posted.  I've been busy with EGA, class proposals and trying to stay warm.

We have no snow but we do have cold temps - no fun either!

Barely stitching so nothing to show right now.

The snow is gone!!!!!!!!   We have had rain and more rain.  As a result, the snow has pretty much disappeared.  I can see our grass again.   It got into the upper 50's today so we bundled up and opened the windows.  It's hard to get non-freezing fresh air in the winter so we knew we needed to take advantage of the day. 

Also, we have a brand new great-nephew - Parker Michael.  Our nephew and his wife had the little guy this morning.  That makes 5 grandsons for my BIL and this one carries on the family name. Yea!

Give-away cancelled

I can't believe no one wanted any charts - for free!  Not a single person signed up for the give-away.
I can only hope that some folks are still reading the blog at least.

I changed the photo to reflect the current outdoors around our area.   Our roads are clear but parking lots are filled with huge snow mounds, yards have lots of snow on the ground.  And for the next few days, no new snow is predicted.

Anniversary give-a-away defined

Since this is my second blog anniversary, I decided to have two drawings - one for the sampler lovers and one for the needlepoint lovers.   THis week I will pull charts for both categories.

Leave a message as to who you are  (i.e.name), blog or not?,  which category  (if both, leave two seperate messages) and if you are a follower (they get an extra entry).

All entries due by 6 pm EST, Monday, January 7, 2013.

Good luck!

anniversary giveaway

Hard to believe but tomorrow (Jan 1, 2013) will be my second anniversary of blogging.  It is amazing to me how fast the time has gone in some ways and then there were the days that dragged on forever.
Time to celebrate.  I'll think of a giveaway tonight and post tomorrow.

Meanwhile I have been catching up on laundry.  I had forgotten how much laundry we went thru as a family.  After everyone left, it took me 3 loads of towels, two loads of sheets, i of tabecloths, placemats, etc and I haven't even gotten to our personal clothes.  Each kids did at least one load for themselves/family while here too.

Today is a day to stay snug in my home.  Here it is mid-afternoon and it is snowing again!  Enough with the snow!  Our neighborhood is rapidly going thru it's snow fund.

I have two projects picked out, kitted up and ready to start on New Year's day.  Both are intended as surprises so there may not be many photos for awhile.  Meanwhile there are still plenty of other projects in progress and also those kitted and not started.  I'm debating about joining the Christmas ornament of the month and the Halloween ornament of the month.  Not sure I want the deadlines - there seems to be enough with teaching proposals.  I did mail off one set of proposals for 2014 today and there are more due in mid-January.

And then there is the 2013  WIPocalypse, as well as the 2013  TUSAL and best of all (because it is a reason to stitch), the IHSW  (International Hermit and Stitch Week-end).

The final book report of the year is 80 books - the same as 2011.  However in 2011 I only read 5 chunksters (450 plus pages) and in 2012, I read 13 of them.  In 2012, I started counting the pages as well as the books and by month.   march was the low month, only 1385 pages read.  September was the high month with 3542 pages read.  For the year, I read 28,120 pages.  It will be interesting to what I do in 2013.  I admit that the list has helped me from repeating some books.  My kindle has helped me read more while on vacations as well.

I have no idea how much genealogy that I have done over the past year.  Not sure how I would track that.  But I will find a way one of  these days.

Have a great New Years Eve and be safe!

Have a great 2013!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The house is now quiet again.  Everyone has returned to their respective homes.  The cats can't begin to tell you how wonderful it is.  Max (the younger cat) hid most of the time - he is afraid of people however he really took to our son.  Samson would come out around dinner time - always looking for a handout but stayed far away from the two little ones.

Here he is waiting for dinner to be served.

Here are the two ornaments that I stitched for an exchange with my Wednesday stitching  group.

The red bulb was stitched in metallics and the yellow bulb in rayon.

And the tree and Max before everyone started arriving.

The day after Christmas, we had snow.  The weather folks called it a blizzard.  IF it was, then it is the mildest blizzard I've ever been in.  And after living in North Dakota, I know a real blizzard.  Anyhow we got arounf 9 inches dumped on us.  Then on the 28th, it snowed again.  Now add another 5-7 inches (depends on which weather station you listen to).  Now they are talking about getting more snow on New Years' eve. 

The scene from my back door.

The refrig and cupboards are restocked so if it snows more fine.  I don't need to be anywhere til wednesday.  Maybe I can get some more stitching done?!