*LUSH*

Have you ever been to LUSH? Wow what an experience. It is the ultimate in luxury skin and body care. The sales staff is sooooo nice and sooooo helpful. They explain what each product does, suggest what products are best for your particular need, use the samples on you! I went to a friends and family sale event at the Lush on Walnut in Philly tonight. This is my second trip. The first store I went to was the Boston store. After the fabulous sales girl in Boston I felt sure I would be disappointed because no one could measure up to her. Well I was wrong, Lush is doing something right and not only with their products but with their staff as well. Their products are all natural and handmade. There are no preservatives and they are better for the environment. I can't wait to try my 'stuff' and you know we all need stuff. Some may consider them as costly but I am worth it! I am not one to spend a lot on myself but this is one indulgence that I don't have a problem with! Thanks to my daughters for taking me!

Coming soon

Pet Peeves - when does polite become too much
Jersey Surf and my husband
Crafting - three's a crowd cross stitch
Cross stitch festival - Nashua
Cross Stitch festival - Hershey

Surf's Up

Don't even say there is nothing for kids to do these days. Need to be brief but need to get this out there as well. Jersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corp - a great organization that has helped thousands of young men and women over the last 15 plus years learn teamwork, experience the thrill of competition, traveled across the country, met lifelong friends......and more. More on my real feelings about Jersey Surf in a later post.....................

Trooper Ron's 5K

This time last year I would have laughed at you if you told me I would participate in my first 5K. Well let's not get excited, I walked it. All the folks from work that convinced me I should do it kept saying......"there will be lots of walkers.....". I should have heard the loud 'sucker' in the background.

Straight from work we arrived at the waterfront which is a beautiful remake of the city's warehouse area. We signed in, got out numbers and t-shirts, stretched, listened to the local radio station and waited. First was the the children's mini run. Too cute! Ok, so now it is the walkers and runners to the starting line. I gravitate to the back of the pack. I am confident that I can do this and that I will not be the slowest person. The tension mounts and off we go. It took far less than 15 seconds to realize that I am so far out of my league. Everyone is running and has pulled ahead of me. It is me and the motorcycle cop behind me. I am having the immediate panic attack of embarrassment. Will it be me and this cop for the next hour? Way to make me feel like a sore thumb. Apparently in my total horror I am thinking out loud and I comment about how I was lied too about the number of walkers. And there is Chris to my rescue.

Chris couldn't have been more perfect if he were on a white stead. Chris tells me to stick with him because his wife always takes off and leaves him. And sure enough I see her and her girlfriend rounding the bend ahead of us. Chris also reassures me that I won't be the last one in because he has a tradition of walking in last. A peace settles in and I know I can do this. We round the corner for the riverwalk and the motorcycle cop if gone so I am a little less threatened. We walk and talk and talk and walk. Somehow we picked up a few folks that are now behind us. We didn't pass anyone so it had to be during my initial haze of embarrassment that I overlooked these comrades.

Chris, a native of the area, told me all these little tidbits about the area. We cruised past where his mother worked during the war (WWII) making ship parts.....a real Rosie the Riveter. We eventually pass another person or two in the shop area as they slowed to window shop. We are about a mile and a half in and all the people from work have already passed me on their way back.

We turn the bend and round the corner and we notice that we have lost anyone behind us. The workers positioned on the route are picking up the cones after we pass their check points. I am too worried about my burning calves to be embarrassed at this point. It's all good. I am a confirmed couch potato that would otherwise be sitting in the chair cross stitching or reading a Grisham novel but I am out here doing it!

Chris's daughter slows and joins us for a bit. She is about 13 and she is tiring. Not long and she has a burst and she pulls ahead. I start to waiver and Chris pushes me on. The whole walk is nothing more than I am used to but the pace is more intense than I would prefer.

So the finish line with the digital time on top is looming ahead. I am so thankful that Chris was put in my path for the afternoon. Chris tells me that I helped him shave 6 minutes off his time. Chris pulls back, his daughter now with us again and tells me to cross the line ahead of him. He, after all must keep up the tradition of he and his daughter crossing hand in hand and last.
There they are, all the folks from work, cheering me! Oh the further embarrassment. I cross at 52 minutes 30 seconds and feel great. Looking at the website, I was under a 17 minute mile which is acceptable I feel. I could have kept going. I grab a cold bottle of water and we are all off to have a after group shot taken.

I find Chris who is with his family and I shake his hand and thank him for helping me make it.

Back to reality, into the car, across the river, home to cook dinner! Driving home I am energized and looking forward to my next walk.

Jiminy Crickets!

or rather jumping jiminy crickets. Oh yes the promises to keep this current have gone the wayside. Again, where does the time go? I like to think that rather than waste time by admitting disorganization, that rather I do too much. Which is very true. I need to learn to lower my expectations and learn to say NO! Enough on that subject because that is a whole other therapy session on its own.

My newest endeavor has been the excessive accumulation of Stampin' Up stamps for making greeting cards. What fun to turn out these creations. I admit that on my own I have had very primitive results. At the workshops I have attended, these women are so creative! The things they think of and things they combine to make works of beauty are unbelievable. We have a girl at work that organizes little after work sessions every month or so and we do look forward to these classes. Next one is June 22. More on Stamin with April and a link to her site once I remember where I have it written.

That of course leads to the tangent that was created. Making my own paper. How cool is that? I got the kit with the instructions, screens, blotting paper, etc. from Michael's Arts and Crafts. I decided to dispense with the mulching and weeding as planned and took my trusty blender to the potting bench on the deck. So simple to shred an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper and toss it in the blender, add 2 cups water and blend for 30 seconds. Poor it on the screen, drain and blot the water and Ta Da! Paper. I got inventive and added lavender from my garden which turned out pretty cool and resulted in scented paper. Then I moved to mint from the garden.....equally cool. I have been saving letterhead from work that was to be shredded. (The dreaded typo or alignment problem, or let me change that paragraph from my boss.) The better the quality of paper the nicer the end result. Our letterhead is tri colored so it adds a fleck or green and teal and blue here and there. Also, I learned the longer you blend the smoother your end result. As with anything, it is a learning process. I will have to take a photo and display it. But let's not rush me.......all in due time.

Oh my goodness, where does the time go?

Of course, like so many things we all do, I needed to have a Blog. I had to have a Blog. My daughter helped create it and then there is sat. I had my Blog and let it sit out in cyberspace all alone and neglected. Perhaps that is why I never had a puppy. It could be that my Blogging ties in with my stitching. I haven't put needle to fabric since Christmas. I am feeling the lack of center in my life. So instead of sitting at the computer and entertaining myself with mindless games on Pogo, I need to get my nimble little fingers in gear. Heaven knows I have quite a few started projects and twice as many more that I want to start. I made that promise all us crafters do..... I promised, on my honor, that I will not buy any more projects to add to my stash until I complete something. I further promise, on my honor, that I will not start one new project until I complete one... and let's see how far into the year I can last.
As an aside, I love Pogo! for the way it allows me to unwind. Don't seem to get much else done when I get into a Pogo frenzy. Seems odd that I would like to unwind at a computer after sitting at one all day at work. But it is a far cry from a deadline or people hovering over you. I have been doing quite well and have kept up with the badges so far for 2007. For those of you not familiar, Pogo is an online game site. You can play anything from Chess to Checkers to Blackjack or Slingo or Hearts and much more. You earn points or tokens. Each week, two or more specials will be going on. If you complete the task required for the special, you get extra points and a badge for that game. You have an album where you keep these badges. This is sad that I know that much about this! I kind of rationalize it that as I cooked, cleaned and diapered others were playing Intellivision. It is now my time to be a gaming aficionado. Now that word should impress my librarian daughter. But I digress....

So I found a funny thing out there on the net as I was looking for information on the Stitching Festival. Just put 'stitching festival' in the address bar and let the search engine do the rest. There is a hit for " Gumble - A Cross Stitch in Time". This is the recounting of a trip to a cross stitch convention by a guy trying to impress his girlfriend. Well written and quite funny. I can just see the poor bastard sitting there with the other husbands. I guess that makes up for the countless Sundays wives are abandoned for football.

We are a strange brood us creative types.

The most precious gift -

Of all you have to give or share the most precious is your time. We took the time for the long overdue visit with my half brother this weekend. Due to no animosity or estrangement but just because we have never been close too many calendar pages have flipped since our last visit. Mainly I guess because of the age difference. It seems we only see each other as funerals and we decided it was time to change that. Anyway, we took the trip yesterday and had a wonderful visit. Stories were shared as well as photos of our father circa 1930's. It was a nice day as we sat and chatted with his 95 year old spry and whimsical aunt. Aunt Katherine poked fun as my brother offered us cake - "from a box" she whispered as Bill cut and served. If only I can hope to have some of her wit and energy. We left with hugs and promises to visit again and I think I will. Next visit I want to talk of antiques and auctions and get my brother's wisdom on these. Things I lost when our father past and I was left with no one to ask. A new chapter can begin......

My Nuthouse

We have a thing about squirrels in my family. Here is one I stitched for my husband.

The new fridge

Well it's like this, for my daughter and son-in-laws 10th wedding anniversary my husband and I decided to buy them a new refridgerator. Well they measured and remeasured to make sure the model they wanted would fit. Everything was good and delivery was set. I made the familar commute for north Philly for the arrival this morning. It is beautiful and I am thinking I should have got the new one and she should be getting my old one but hey what are parents for. So as I arrive and it is sitting in the dining room and not the kitchen I find there was one minor hitch in the whole deal. No one thought to measure the overall height. Several hours later, one less pantry closet later and the kitchen completely rearranged, all is well the world of chilling your food.

Just a little about me

Well I just recently hit that half-century mark and as long as I don’t catch my reflection in the mirror, it hasn’t sunk in. Face it, we all know the horror of seeing ourself in that department store mirror, especially when you left the house that morning and thought we looked pretty darned good. So about crafting and me… I have created things as long as I can remember – pen and ink, copper relief, sewing, calligraphy, crewel work, embroidery, cross stitch, basket weaving, stained glass, stamping… If you know anything about stash, then you can imagine I have stash for almost all of the above. Of those, cross-stitch is my favorite. I try to stitch every day. I do work full time and have long hours because of the commute. Unfortunately for me, I am driving and not on public transportation where I could use the time to stitch. I stitch first thing in the morning with my coffee and the morning news. Current status – I am on a mission to complete a minimum of 6 and hopefully as many as twelve projects before the Stitching Festival next September in Hershey PA. I have so many I want to dive into but I promise not to start anything new until I finish a few projects. With the holidays coming, it will be the perfect time. That may sound odd to some, but of all the crafts I do, cross-stitch requires the least amount of stuff to tear out and set up. Give me my hoop, my mini Daylite magnifier that clips to my hoop and floss and I am ready to go. Right now I am working on “Tavern Signs Too – A Needlewoman", Carriage House Samplings, 2006 . Imagine that, I am making it for myself and not for someone else. Oh I have several others started that I hope to get digital photos of and put them in an album. I need some help from my daughter with getting this up and running...