Oh, how I dislike being sick...

This past week has been better than the last one, that's for sure! I had to go to the emergency room on February 15th, because I thought I was having a heart attack... Needless to say, I'm only in my 30's, so that scared the heeby jeebies out of me... Well, after all is said and done, it turns out that I have a thyroid issue, as in it's not working! They think that it is burning itself out right now, and then I will either become hyper- or hypo-thyroidic... It hoping for the former as a opposed to the latter!! So now I am on medication until I can get in to see the specialist up in Billings, Montana... Nope, we don't have those kinds of doctors down here in the Middle of nowhere, Wyoming! I am just happy that they finally figured out what's wrong with me! It has been a rollercoaster of emotions for the last week and a half! My poor Jeffrey has been through way too much with me since we have been together... I'm hoping that this is it for awhile!! I've been told that this condition can have the nasty side effect of awful mood swings, so if you happen to see some salt in my posts, please FORGIVE me!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our anniversary!! It's hard to believe how fast the time is going! We were married three years ago, it was a Friday night... I know a strange night to get married, but we were moving to Wyoming the next morning. I had all of my stuff packed up already... Had sold the house and was preparing to start a new life, in a new place, with my new spouse. Here is our wedding picture... We had a really fun wedding. We were married on Friday night at 9pm in the restaurant/bar that we met at. I used to go dancing every weekend, it was a blast! We were surrounded by about 100 acquaintances and 5 really good friends. Alot of people have said that we did it the right way and had a great party to celebrate... But, in another 7 years, we are going to renew our vows for our 10th anniversary. I've already got the spot picked out... Hopefully, it will all come to fruition! :) I'm hoping for a nice castle in Scotland, with my Jeff in a kilt!!! I'm planning it now!

My Wedding: James, the guy above with me, was our best man, as you can see, he was drinking beer... We were married by a friend of my husbands, who happened to be a minister and a bouncer at a gay bar... He was late to work that night because he was marrying us! The guy in the white t-shirt, below, is my brother in law, Brian, who was visiting California for the first time. During the vows the band was playing, Another one bites the dust by Queen, very softly... My soon to be spouse was in jeans, shirt and hat. Me, I was wearing black leather, floral tank top and hat, with a pink maribou hat band... :) The best man was cracking jokes, and our marriage was part of the entertainment for the evening... I'm hoping that James can be there again for us when we do it again, this time a bit more formally. But, I wouldn't have traded this night for anything, it was us.

So, Happy 3rd Anniversary Jeffrey! I love you, always!

What a day!

Yesterday's post was way too serious for who I am... I'm sorry if I offended anyone, that was not the intent. But today, WOW, what a day...

In the mail I received some wonderful stitchy goodies. This always makes the whole day better! After seeing the new Lizzie Kate ornaments, I "had" to order them, and while I was at it, I also put Northern Shield Sampler from Jeannette Douglas in my cart. I also saw some of those curved beading needles and thought I'd give'm a try. I don't do a ton of beading, but I did have to order some to do a few projects, so the needles became a necessity! LOL! I wish there were more days like this, as opposed to bills...

I also received a letter from a good friend. I haven't spoken to her in years, but I miss the friendship that we shared, so I sent her a letter. There is nothing like hearing from someone who knows you well enough to have lots of dirt on you! LOL :) Anyways, the reason I brought this up is that in this day and age of convienence I have found myself distancing from people. Everything I need can be done on the internet just about, and my Jeff does most of my errands for me... I just don't interact with people the way I used to... So, I made an old friend a part of my introverted life again. The feeling was very refreshing when I received her letter. The moral is don't let your friends fall out of your life because you are too busy, you just have to make time... :)

Charity begins at home

I've looked at other sites on the internet that ask you to donate to their cause or support something that they believe in. I have found many wonderful organizations that help so many people, it is wonderful. The hardest thing to teach kids sometimes, is that it is good to give away items, time, money, whatever, to help someone less fortunate! I'm trying to set that example, here in Wyoming, where I live. Sometimes kids just need to see who they are helping... Much like other cities, we have an animal shelter here, but there are very few people who work there for pay, most of the caretaking is done by volunteers. Their budget is also very small. So the local recycling center has set up a program where you can donate your recyclables to Caring for Powell's Animals. What a great way to teach your kids to help others and recycle at the same time! I just had my Jeff take a load of aluminum cans down to the center. What a great way to help such a worthwhile cause.

Another thing that I do is to donate the clothing that my kids have grown out of. Usually I just take it to the Presbyterian Church in the next city, as they run a second hand store. But even then, I wish that others didn't have to pay for the clothing that I gave away. So now I have tried to find individuals in my community that could really use the clothing and that want it. It is amazing how many people will not clothe their child in hand-me-downs, it's either a brand name or nothing! We donated my daughters old winter jacket to the second hand store, and she saw one of her classmates wearing it to school a few days later. I told her that she should not embarass the girl by saying something in front of others, as we all know how cruel kids can be, but I did tell her to let me know the name of the girl's family, so maybe I could give them Jace's clothes once she grows out of them...

Hopefully, the kids are watching me and learning how good giving to others can be... I always believe that karma plays a role in our lives and that to you have to give to get... Whether it be a full live, a good feeling, or maybe the random kindness of an individual, it all comes back to you!

Well, hopping off my soapbox...

Another day

It's amazing how fast this year is going! I cannot believe it at all. I've been making slow progress on my Angel of the Morning, but her dress is finally just about finished! Yeah! Happy Dance! As much as I love the color blue, I'm really just tired of looking at it... :( I'm going to start working on her cape next. I'm looking forward to using Needlepaints for the first time, they are very lovely and have a wonderful depth to them.



I have also finished my Baby envelope for my new nephew, Gavyn. It turned out pretty good for my first attempt. I know next time that I can't use my sewing machine to do everything. But it is so much easier and faster if I do... LOL... I hope that it is well received by the family. I just have to go and get a gift card before I mail it off. But it is beautiful. I really enjoyed making the envelope, it was a wonderful thing to finish. My husband was making fun of me this weekend, because it took me four hours to address the thing, with both the addressee and return addresses. Hey, good work takes time, and Rome wasn't built in a day!

New baby in our family!!! :)

This is so exciting! I love babies! Especially if I'm not the one who has to get up with them in the middle of the night! :) My brother and his wife just had their first son a few weeks ago. They are both very excited, as we all are! This is our first new addition since my son was born a few years ago... It's amazing how the time flies! So now I will need to finish stitching my Baby envelope and get it out in the mail. I'm glad that I waited to finish it, because they decided to spell his name differently than how it is usually spelled and I would not have like to have frogged that!

One of my favorites

As part of an exchange of sorts that I participated in, I received some beautiful colors of Dragon Floss from MichelleTN on SanMan... This floss is quickly becoming one of my favorite flosses, so colorful and beautiful and it is soo soft, very easy to fondle! :) Of course, I would have to say Vikki Clayton Silks are also very wonderful, I just try not to fondle those so much! LOL! It's hard to imagine that I never knew hand-dyed/overdyed floss and fabric existed when I lived in California for 20 years. I used to get all of my kits/materials from Michaels, so I was limited to LA leaflets and Gold Collection kits... It was not until I moved to the middle of nowhere, Wyoming, that I discovered all of the wonderful notions available to me! I guess that when I was forced to shop by internet, I discovered alot of things... :) Now, my wonderful other half, Jeff, doesn't think like I do... So to him I just have a lot of string and material... He used to ask me what I was going to make out of it! He is just too cute... Now he knows better! LOL!

Thank goodness the internet has been here to introduce me to the wonders of cross stitch supplies and notions and that I may have to keep working to pay for them all!

Valentine's Day finish

This is a cute little kit from Faithwurks. It is part of their monthly spools kits. This took just a few hours, but I think that the end product is really cute! It makes a neat decoration on my table.

My L&L Angel of the Morning is coming along great, just a few more colors of blue to add and then I can move on to purple... I didn't realize how long this one would take, but I can see progress each time I look at it. I am still hoping to have it done in time for Mother's Day... Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Furbabies

Today was without incident. The kids and my husband spent the day building a fence to keep the horses in their pasture and out of our lawn. There is nothing quite as frightening as walking around a corner and seeing two hooves coming at you... Well, needless to say, that happened to me this past week. These are my babies, well two of them, at least. The one on the very right, is my old man, he is 21 years young... Just as feisty as the other two... But the middle one, Amber, is the master of fence destruction! She has managed to end up in the neighbors garden, our lawn, our haystack, the neighbors corral, pretty much anywhere... So we are getting that problem solved on Tuesday, when the electric fence charger arrives! :)

Now if only these three could be as good as my other babies... This is one of my Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Chief is seen with his pups, he was a great Dad, but very territorial, I always had to make sure that he was being a gentleman with them. These are themost loving, well behaved animals that we have... They are truly as much of a part of the family as one of my children. It would be very hard to not have them around.

When I grow up...

I stay at home with my littlest angel, simply because there is no good, quality, affordable childcare where I live. So, I've been taking this time to get some stitching done and do what needs done around the house. I watch a couple of other kids as well... But, I've been trying to come up with a career that I would like to do once my angel goes to school... Now it won't be for a few years, but I figured that I could take some online classes and get a jump on the whole situation! Pretty forward thinking, huh! Well, last night it came to me... So I informed my husband of my decision...

We were laying around just kind of shooting the breeze and the conversation went something like this...

Me - "I've decided what I want to do when Joe goes to school."

DH - "That's good. What did you decide on?"

Me - "I've decided that I am NOT going to work."

DH - "Why?"

Me - "Because you should support me in the lifestyle in which I want to be
accustomed to!"

DH - "No, seriously, why?"

Me - "Work interferes with valuable cross stitching time! So, I don't want to work!"

DH - laughing uncontrollably - "It sounds like you need an intervention or
something!"

Me - "It's a good thing that I don't know to many people up here, then is it?!"

So what do you think??? LOL!