Sugar, Yes please.

Well well well.....it is summertime for sure.  Poor yourself a nice big lemonade or iced tea and get comfy for catching up.  Humidity, heat warnings, A/C,  pool time,  not much stitching and ..........Probation for someone!    Let me give you a some history here.  Take tonight......my usual......a little yard work and then exercising in the pool, tonight without wine, some nights with wine.  For my listening pleasure tonight a little Hotel California, a little New York Minute ...just mellowing out with The Eagles.  I always prop my iPad up behind a towel to protect it from any splash over from the pool.   So just where in all 15,000 square feet of the yard do you think Mr. Buddy needs to lie down?   You got it.   On the towel of course.   

It seems if I am pulling weeds it may be in my best interest to don the attire of a bee keeper.  Not because of bees or bugs or even the occasional hop toad or snake...

 Buddy, the cat,  likes to lie under the Stella Dora lilies - only when I am weeding of course - and attack the be-Jesus out of my arms.  Me and Buddy are not seeing eye to eye at all.     Sir Budrew Beauregard Pain in the Neck Cat!    He lies in wait under the leaves of the lilies and pounces with every stretch of my arms to grasp and pull the brown leaves out.   Last week I had more scratches on my forearms than I can count.    Now lets move to another flower bed where I am removing the ground cover, laying landscaping fabric (first time using this) and spreading mulch.   Where does Buddy choose to  lay? flop? Yes,  right where I am smoothing out and securing the landscaping fabric.  He rolls around and scratches at the unsecured corners.  Really!

Buddy even has helped me with my stitching.   No sooner do I sit down, put the recliner up, move the dazor light to the right angle, pick up my stitching, thread the needle, find my place on the chart and place the first stitch, does Sir Buddy want to go out.   The routine starts....project down, recliner down, light and magnifier moved, and up I get to let him out.  Sit back down, reposition myself, start to stitch and he wants in, repeat the process at least three more times.  OMGosh!  My life used to be ruled by two year olds and then by teenagers and their schedules.   I had more control over them then I do with this cat!  

Now, let's move to my house guests and the real reason for Buddy being on probation!  I have found 'evidence' of mice in my pantry closet.   I just pulled everything out about three weeks ago so I know my little visitors are recent.   Buddy who must be Morris the Cat of TV fame incarnate looks at me like....you expect me to do something?   My chastising of Buddy and putting him on probation was meet with purrs and his eyes closing like cats do.   

Of course I don't have my camera around my neck when does this with me when I spread mulch....or the other night when he decided he should stalk and attack two canadian geese that were visiting the retention pond across the street.   Well he has delusions of grandiere for sure.    Geese 1, Buddy 0.

Enough of Sir Buddy, my regal pain in my you know what.

I did finally finished the bargello piece.   I don't know why this took so long but I can say I  do not spend as much time stitching during the summer.   So much outside to do.   (Non-stitching) Friends to visit or visiting.  So it goes.

For mounting this piece, I adding strips of fabric to help with stretching over the base plate.   The Lone Elm shaker box is of the best quality.   It was hard to decide on the color between all that were offered and I settled on the black since black is a neutral and I have wrought iron and other black trimmed furniture.   

I can't seemed to get this pulled nice and smooth so I will be taking it to stitching group this week and see if anyone can offer any suggestions.    

On to the next project.......a quick patriotic stitch and the rehabilitation of a cat gone rogue.

But the best yet to share....this  was my birthday week.   OMGosh my co-workers and friends are the greatest.    Dinner with girlfriends from high school on Friday; Saturday brought friends to visit by the pool and they brought casseroles and salads and I only had to provide the pool; Sunday was dinner and ice cream cake at a friend's pool, so again no work for me......

......but then I go to work on Monday and a little birdie told someone I like Adam Levine.......well I had to suffer through looking at posters of him all day.

My co-workers had this full sized cut out of Adam Levine along with many other small and poster sized pix of him.  Even in the bathroom stall when you shut the door....I open a drawer or my overhead cabinets and there he is again.  I think the men on the floor are sick of two days of making a fuss over Adam but he has a stay in place until the CEO comes in and she sees him.  Then I am folding him up and bringing him home.  

I know he is thinking...."What? The other girls think you have too much stash! Never.  Their not real friends."

Years ago I had a cardboard man from a school fundraiser and we had such fun with him.  We would put him in people's showers, or at someone's  front door for them to find when they go out to pick up the paper or in their garage standing next to their car for them to find in the morning.  We just cracked ourselves up with Mr. Earl.  My new cardboard man is an improvement over the grand pop looking one I had. So flowers and presents and lunch at the Hilton and just looking at Adam all day.  It was rough birthday.

........"I'd love to take you to another cross stitch store if you want." 

Later in the day, he was thinking, "You want to start a new project?  Sure, go ahead.  You can't have too many WIP's."

Really, in the bathroom stall too!  And I didn't even mention how I was covered glitter all day from the birthday banner.   I looked like (I am imagining!!!) I had been to a strip club!

The end!