All that glitters.....




I just love these snowflakes.   The only addition to my Christmas decorations this year.

I picked these us for 75% off.....the only way I shop....coupons and sales!





I put up several trees - the lunacy of it!!!  and mixed the trees up this year.   Not intentionally, but read on  and I explain.  These should have gone on the smaller tree but oh well.    It is the Squirrel Tree - a tribute to my husband's encounter with a squirrel.

  

All things woodsey and squirrel like

I have managed to complete my tree decorating and house decorations as they have come in spurts this year. I have been nursing a sore knee since Thanksgiving....not the end of the world but something to definitely make one weary after several weeks. I finally went to the doctor last week, got an rx for anti-inflammatories and had an X-ray. X-rays showed nothing other than an "arthritis flare". Gees, I didn't know I had arthritis in my knee/knees!!! So I have been alternating between nursing it and just being plain miserable by the time I get home from work. Couple that with not sleeping and I have been a pretty cranky old bird. They laughed at me because I took a bag of frozen peas to work and have been spending my lunch hour with my foot up and the frozen peas on my knee. Hey, it has helped with the swelling. Finally, after close to a month, I feel I am finally getting some relief. Golly, how one little old knee can make someone feel so miserable I'll never know. This getting old crap is for the birds!



Since I didn't do the traditional tree this year but I still wanted to be able to enjoy some of the ornaments, I did a little display on my coffee table in my family room.  I think it looks kind of cute but it doesn't photograph too well.

 Of course the early morning visits to the gym and all the holiday cookies at work and I believe I put back on the 9.5 lbs I lost with weight watchers! That constant battle with weight! Yuck!

Anyway, I had a girl's day out on Friday with my BFF Debbie (non-blogger and non-stitcher but recently expressing an interest in stitching....yeah, the power of stitching!!!) but I paid all weekend. I worked an hour, I iced the knee for an hour. In and out of the recliner all weekend, I worked on some of my WIP's. Well what's a girl to do when she is forced to be in the recliner with her feet up every other hour? Make use of that time to stitch of course!

I worked on the Sheltering Tree, The Basket of Blooms and Tequila Sunrise. I am pleased with the progress and so happy to see the end so closely in site for at least the Basket of Blooms with the other two now far behind.    I choose these three to work on not because of the percentage of completion but because of the overall amount to be done.   I figured a couple of quick finishes would be incentive to get the ball rolling and the needle flying.  What a diverse three.....cross stitch with silks, embroidery with DMC and canvas work with metallics. These are all in need of completion before I dare break my promise to start anything new. Can't do it, won't do it, don't dare even think about it. As much as I wish to stitch up ornaments, this is not the year. Those cuties will have to sit and wait for me and my resolve. 25 on that list of WIPs and a promise to not start anything new until retreat in May and only then if I have crossed a few off the list. I'm a numbers person and play all kinds of equations in my head. I am thinking to stay on pace and reduce this number to a manageable mess, I need to cross two a month off my list. I can do that......right?.....if I can, then how did I get myself in this fine pickle?


Ok, enough of my random rant of foolishness......time to get the ice pack out and put my feet up....housework?... it's not going anywhere.