Look what I got

When we got Kyleigh's picture taken with Santa last month, they gave us a coupon for Shutterfly. This is what Janice got with that coupon. She also had a couple of reprints made of Kyleigh trying to eat Mickey's nose and her and Kyleigh at the baseball game.

I don't normally use a mouse pad, but I'm making an exception and this now graces my desk at work.

And I'm participating in a birthday floss exchange on the Shared Crosses Yahoo Group. Since my birthday is in January, this is what I got. It was really fun to open all the cards and see what colors each person chose. You were only supposed to send two skeins, but some people sent three or four (and only two were duplicates). I also received a gift certificate to an online shop because one of the ladies felt guilty for not sending her floss on time.

January Stitching Plans

Today is the beginning of a brand new year and I'm looking forward to seeing what it brings. I don't do resolutions, but I have a lot of things planned for this year and I hope to accomplish at least some of them.

On the stitching front, I'm unofficially participating in the Flippin Crazy Challenge where you commit to finishing 15 WIPs/UFOs. I currently have 73 from which to choose, but so far I'm only committing to three specific ones. I'd also like to complete a bunch of Christmas Ornaments this year as well as start several new projects including more stitching for charity. I also plan to stitch mostly from my stash.

One of the ladies in our Shared_Crosses yahoo group plans her stitching for a whole year in advance down to what she's planning to stitch on what day. Me, I can't get that detailed, but I do have a plan for January. I'm planning to stitch the following in the order listed:

For Q4OC
Alphabet Kitties - Letter V

For Binky, South Dakota
Spring Chicks - Chick 7
January Teacup
Teddy Bear Alphabet - Letter A
Teddy Bear Alphabet - Letter U

UFO Finish
I (heart) Cats

Start and Finish
Christmas Smiley Ornament
6 Geese-a-laying

Start
Cat Rules for People

Most of these are small, so even though it seems like a lot, I think it's doable.

In closing, I'd like to wish everyone reading this a healthy happy and prosperous New Year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Kyleigh is spending the weekend with her dad so we're not planning to celebrate until tomorrow afternoon when she gets home.

What ya lookin at?

Janice and Kyleigh went to the San Diego Zoo on Saturday since they had some free passes that needed to be used. I'm not sure whether Kyleigh was asking the goat the question in the title or whether Janice was asking Kyleigh, but I thought it was a cute picture.

3 French Hens

As I said yesterday, I hoped to be able to finish this piece tonight and I accomplished that goal. I didn't get a chance to start 4 Calling Birds tonight, but I plan to start that one tomorrow.

This is the third of Margaret Sherry's 12 Days of Christmas which I'm stitching on 25 count potato Lugana with Anchor floss.

Happy Halloween

Janice carved this pumpkin and it sits by her front porch to welcome trick or treaters. She does a different one each year and this year chose Cinderella because that's what Kyleigh chose as her costume.

Kyleigh didn't go trick or treating with her dad after all, but she did get home in time to go trick or treating with a friend who was also dressed as Cinderella. Janice posted a picture of her filled pumpkin on Facebook. That's a lot of loot for a two year old, but I think some of it came from Treats in the Streets on Thursday.

We only had ten trick or treaters this evening so my office is going to be the beneficiary of LOTS of candy.

It should keep the receptionist's candy dish supplied for quite some time.

I did do some stitching today and this is my progress on Margaret Sherry's 3 French Hens. I hope to be able to finish him tomorrow night.

They're still having problems with the new servers so they put them back to the way they were before and are still having problems. Hopefully our software supplier will be able to resolve the problem in the morning before the users try to sign on. Of course this means we'll have to try again later this week.

Look what Janice made

Janice has been preparing items to sell at a boutique our church is having next weekend and she came over today to use my sewing machine to finish up her pillow. After finishing this, she and her dad built a stand to display the ornaments she's made.

This is the pin I started last night. It's a very old Mill Hill kit from the Holiday Pins Collection VIII and is called Tiny Tree. Once I finished this, I pulled out my Margaret Sherry 12 Days of Christmas--I'm in the middle of 3 French Hens.

And my bears have a home. I contacted Mary at Krafters Korner Charity Quilts and she responded right away that she would be very happy to receive them so they'll be going out in the mail sometime next week.

In the neverending saga of the moving servers, we tried again this afternoon but are still having problems so will probably be going back to the old ones tomorrow.

All Done

I finished the last teddy bear this evening. I'd had a rough day so I came home and stitched while watching a couple of prerecorded TV shows. Now I just have to find a group that "needs" them. I do have a couple of possibilities and I'll be sending the owner a message in a few minutes.

Since I didn't feel like hasseling with my stand, I pulled out an old Mill Hill Christmas pin to work on next.

We had our Halloween potluck at work today and of course, I ate way too much. In addition, we had several computer problems which led to a stressful day. We're going to try to move the servers again tomorrow afternoon and I'm really hoping it goes better this time.

Kyleigh had her flu shot this morning although in her case it wasn't a shot but some mist in the nose. Since she didn't have the H1N1 vaccine last year, she has to go back in a few weeks for a booster.

She missed the fire truck visit at her preschool, but made it back in time for the orange/black party during snack (these are the colors they're studying this month. Kyleigh took black olives and Janice warned the teachers to keep an eye on her because she'd eat all the olives and nothing else if they let her.

Busy Evening

Janice picked me up at 4:00 this afternoon and we took Kyleigh trick or treating at Treats in the Streets at the circle in old town Orange along with thousands of other people. We got a bit of a late start and I forgot my handicap permit so we had to park about 1/2 a mile away and it was a lot more crowded than either of us expected. But, our pretty little Cinderella managed to get quite a few treats in her pumpkin.

I think her father is planning to take her to another special event on Saturday and is returning her in her costume on Sunday so that Janice can take her trick or treating with a friend who will also be dressed as Cinderella.

We had planned to get something to eat there, but since it was so crowded and David didn't go with us, we stopped at Carl's Jr on the way home.

David forgot to pick up my prescriptions this afternoon so I had to go out and get them after dinner. He also "forgot" to get gas so I had to do that too.

I also had to log in to my work computer and do some testing since we were trying to switch servers on our production account. It wasn't a constant process so along with watching recorded shows and stitching another bear, I had to keep checking emails, etc in my home office. Unfortunately, we had to put everything back on the old servers so we'll have to go through this again, either tomorrow night or Saturday.

Another One Done

I finished another teddy bear from the Cross Stitch Favorites - Teddy Bears magazine. This is one of my favorites. He's done on antique white Aida.

This is the eleventh of twelve bears and I started the twelth one last night, but unfortunately the frog came to visit and I need to rip out all but the first nine stitches. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do that tonight.

While Janice was sick last week, I took Kyleigh grocery shopping with me at a local Vons market. This Vons has cars attached to some of the carts and as soon as she spotted one, Kyleigh said "I ride in car". She said that again when Janice turned into the parking lot tonight. Apparently some of the cars have TVs and some don't. Tonight, Janice found one that had a TV and Kyleigh got to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while Janice did her shopping. She said she only had to deal with Kyleigh once--when a little hand exited the car in the middle of the candy aisle.