January 21, 2013

Thankful for the little things

Ahhhh, last week seemed to be a repeat of the week before - 40 hours by noon on Thursday.   The office was closed today for Martin Luther King Day but I went in for few hours to catch up.   Boy, what you can get done in four hours with no interruptions.   It feels good to have caught up a bit.
Stitching is going OK.   No, it is going great.    I have seen Pat, Carol and Diane's progress and all but Carol has passed me.  :*(   rather than get upset at myself.  I said, "self, this is not a race."   They may be further along (does it have anything to do that they are all RETIRED!!), but I am doing great for me! and I am thoroughly enjoying this piece.  (Go ahead, Pat - laugh out loud at that....little inside joke between she and I.)

Yesterday I laid out all my clothes and jewelry and shoes, etc. for my upcoming cruise.   It is different than packing for the beach or mountains when you know there is a Walmart or Piggly Wiggly right around the corner or you don't need to worry about the weight of the suitcase.
I am ready! clothes for Friday airplane ride(CRINGE!!), my carry-on, my passport and boarding passes and there are a bunch of post-it with notes for last minute items - phone charger, curling iron, and Diane's birthday present since she will celebrate it while on our cruise.



Mr. W. and I went to the bank Saturday with both our magical money jars.   He cashed his in and gave me the proceeds of his coin saving as spending money.   Wow.   Mr. W. has never offered up $$$ before for any of my other trips.   I guess he can't identify with my trips to the beach or mountains or a retreat.  Having been on two different cruises before he swore off traveling so I guess he can relate to a cruise better than a stitching retreat!   I had planned to go myself and take pix of the process and the receipt to post and share but no need to fluster Mr. W. with my silliness.   I can hear him now....."just get on with it".  I was just thankful he carried the coins for me.

Speaking of retreats.....Pat, my stitching com padre, and I have signed up to attend the Stitchers Hideaway Retreat in Sturbridge in July with Jeannette Douglas.   I've had a class with Jeannette before and she is a great and a fun teacher.   The info and class piece can be found on the website.  I am a lucky gal to have two great trips planned this year.......I am sure there will be some weekend retreats and times at the beach as well.  Funny this is, when booking this trip, little does Mr. W. know, it will end up costing more than my cruise but I can say for sure he would never cash in his magical money jar for me to get floss and linen, etc. and I know I don't need him to know how my this little stitching hobby of mine can cost.

Getting ready for traveling I went shopping Saturday to get a few things.   It included a stop at the mall.   Other than being in the food court or entering J. C. Penneys from the parking and making a quick exit back out, I don't think I have been in the Mall for over a year.   What a crowd.   You would have thought it was Christmas.   Stores crowded, food court crowded, parking lot ridiculously crowded.  I went because I needed a new watch battery and everywhere I went I was told I needed to get to the store that sold the watch to me.  Funny thing, I went into the Brighton store and they sent me to a kiosk - which I never did find.


I proceeded to Barnes and Noble to pickup a couple of paperbacks for my trip.   I don't want to take my iPad (which will mean withdrawal)   But to the point, thank goodness, thank my lucky stars I have the iPad and can rely on the Kindle Ap because the bookstore was an absolute waste of time.   I went in with a couple of titles/authors to look for.   After the first two were not available, I went back to my mental list and searched the cobwebs for another couple to look for....still no luck..... now I tried to find a place to sit and unlike Borders who used to have nice comfy chairs, I found myself sitting on the window sill while I called up GoodReads on my phone.   Before that I used the in store terminals to search some authors and titles and got the answer - Available Online.  I ended up with two of James Patterson's paperbacks in the Alex Cross series
 and thanked my lucky stars again the twit that checking me out didn't ask if I found everything OK.....oh, wait, that would mean she would have had to be paying attention to me, the customer, not her checkout mate at the next register.  Do they really think anyone wants to hear about what Sherry and Steve did at Rosemary's party last night?  Really not hard to see I am not a mall girl.


Alright, I have a fullfledged rant going on now........but saving the best for last.......my orchid is going to bloom again!!!  I think it must thrive on neglect.

And even better.....we are getting snow.  Although I would be happier still with  more like half a foot, this is the second best kind of snow.....not sticking to the sidewalks or roads.    I do love at least one good snow storm a year.   I love taking that deep breath and filling your insides with all the cold fresh air into your lungs.   I love seeing the blue blue sky the next day against the white white world.  I love having my coffee on the porch and listening to the snow and the silence it brings.  So I took a cup outside tonight to enjoy it a bit......until the trucks on the nearby highway brought me back to reality.


3 comments:

  1. Have a wonderful time Robin!!! I'm so envious. We took a cruise this time of year 2 years ago and I would do it every year. Wonderful to be warm in January!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Robin,
    Your Santa is really coming along. Now you've packed your clothes but what stitchy project are you taking on the cruise? Enquiring minds want to know....lol.
    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  3. How your made progress on
    your Craft room yesterday.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks is much for stopping by. I so enjoy your comments even if I do not always reply. Have a great day that hopefully includes a bit of stitching.