Good Eggs!

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though she knows that you are slightly cracked."  I think that works both ways in our case!
 
Two years have just flown by since DJ and I first met.  We had a stitching date on Friday with Sonya, and had a great afternoon.  Stitching, food and friends, can't go wrong... except the snow interrupted it.  It wasn't supposed to snow that much, but school was letting out early for the boys so I left when it started - bummer!  Oh well, not like we don't have another day planned already.  Here's DJ's take on our afternoon.

Both DJ and Sonya helped me out on a piece I had framed for a friend.  The store did a terrible job!  I thought it just looked crooked, but Sonya noticed it was also buckled.  Between the two of them, they took it apart (it was taped, not pinned), fixed it up, and made it pretty!  I can't show it to you yet, I still have to send it to Karen and I don't want her to peek ahead of time.  So thanks, girls, I truly appreciate your help.  Such good eggs!  Oh, and I like my eggs scrambled... that seems to work for us!

This cutie pie comes to visit DJ's back door frequently, but runs away whenever the door is opened!

I'm not sure if Tom is too happy with him hanging around though.

 

   I didn't get as much stitching done as I would have liked, but at least his ears are done.

 

My Garden Journal SAL - come join the fun!

Leave it to Parsley to find something fun to do!  She's started My Garden Journal SAL from Cottage Garden Samplings.

"My Garden Journal" is a 12 parts series.

You can order just the pattern monthly, or as a package here.  If you choose auto-ship, it's free shipping in the States.  I've signed up and am ordering just the pattern. 

I figure I have all the floss so I won't have to buy any, or if I want to change any of the colours, I can.  It will cost me about the equivalent of a lunch out or a couple fancy coffees, so I'm willing to do it! 

So take a look at My Garden Journal SAL to find out all the details - stitch as little or as much as you'd like.  I'm planning on stitching it as a journal, something a little different for me.

Hermitting Weekend at the Lake

Nathan had a half day last Friday and all the boys had off Monday AND Tuesday, so we took advantage of it and headed to the lake.  It was cold and super windy, so we pretty much relaxed in the house and I was actually able to stitch.  But not as much as I would have liked to, with the Grow Your Blog Party going on!  Not that I'm complaining, because I've met a lot more friends - hello new following friends!  I know I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog reading, so everyone please stop posting until I do!  ;)

Frosted Trees

Behind the Mountain State Brewery Co, where we had dinner on Friday

View from the house, the lake starting to freeze in areas

Another beautiful, but cold and windy evening

This is what I was able to do - a little here, a little there! 
Parsley's Poopy Pattern curse hasn't appeared, thank goodness.  Does having a stinky litter box count?!

I changed his eyes, I thought it looked like he was wearing glasses in the photo!

 

We actually left the lake on Sunday, and the boys and I headed to my parents on the way home to stay until Tuesday - that's my next post.  I'm hoping my Dad will do his guest blogger bit!

The Growing of the Blogs!

Strangers are just friends waiting to happen ~ Rod McKuen

Thanks to Vicki, for organizing this Grow Your Blog party - come join the fun!
 

 

So who am I?  My name is Astrid, and in this picture I was 8 months pregnant with our now six year old, Nathan!  In addition to him, I have 14 year old identical twin boys, Garrett and Griffin, our gmen.  My DH, Paul, and I have been married for 17 1/2 years, together for 22+ years.  We have two Tonkinese kitties, Ming and Max, who are spoiled rotten!

I was born in Wales, but moved to the States with my family when I was two years old.  Thus, the love of dragons!  Growing up, we would travel to Germany (Mom's family) and Great Britain (Dad's family and friends) every two years for the summer.  I have such wonderful memories of those times and my dream is to take my family to the wonderful places I remember.

Me in '76, a little Welsh girl, wearing a German dirndl, in Clovelly, Devon.

 As noted in my side bar, I have been stitching since the sixth grade, ages and ages ago!  Most of my older pieces are Christmas related and are in my parents house.  I've made lots of other smaller ones for friends and family, but that was long before I started taking pictures of them.  You can see all the ones I made my parents and other miscellaneous ones by checking out my older posts.

This blog was originally supposed to be just about stitching, but life gets in the way and there's so much more to tell!  I've been cooking and baking more and there's always something entertaining going on with the cats, family, or friends.  And then there are quiet moments or actual moments of stitching!  I also like to knit, but only scarfs... so far.  Jewelry making and card making are also on my can-do list, just throw it at me cause I'm willing to try!

So even though this isn't a requirement of the "party", I will be having a give-a-way.  What you ask?  I have no idea!  But I do have a great LNS nearby, I'm sure I could find something fun!  Just leave me a comment telling me your favourite cartoon character.  Why?  Just cause I wanna know.  Mine is Odie!  The winner will be picked on February 1st - along with all the other blogs participating.  Be sure to check them all out!  I was hoping to stitch this weekend, but it looks like I might be doing my fair share of reading too!

Night of Hope & Healing - LIVE NOW!

Night of Hope & Healing

The Poopy Pattern Curse?

I hope I wasn't asking for trouble when I entered and won Parsley's Poopy Pattern.  You really need to read all of her posts about it, too funny!  

Even though we have two cats, I thought I would make this for my girlfriend who has I can't even remember how many dogs!  Of course I have another friend I could make this for - now I can't decide, but I will get it organized to start tomorrow!
Once I'm finished, I'll be passing it along in a give-a-way as per Parley's rules!

 

So thanks Parsley, I think!  I did clean Ming & Max's litter box today so I'm hoping the curse got lost in the mail.

 

And do these two really look like they'd do something like that?!  Not MY babies!

A Beautiful Scarf and a lot of UNs!

Wow, look at the beautiful scarf that DJ made me for Christmas!  It's really hard to capture the colours of it and there are sequins that you can't see very well.  Here's another picture of it on DJ's blog.  So thank you, thank you, you know I love it and will always think of you when I wear it!

 

Look on the left, see some sparkle?

 

And here are my UNs - unorganized, unmotivated, uninspired, uncreative, unmoved - understand?!

 

I know this isn't a huge mess, but I have more stuff to bring down here from upstairs to put away.  And luckily, you can't see my desk!  Ok, I'm going to get off the couch and attempt to clean up a bit - DJ is coming over tomorrow to watch Downton Abbey and stitch, and I need to figure out what I'm stitching!

Happy Birthday to my Mom/Oma!

Darn cold/flu thing going around during the holidays!  We were supposed to head to my parents house on Boxing Day to celebrate our Christmas with them, but when we're sick, we can't be near my Mom.  Even the first weekend into the new year, it was still iffy for DH, so we couldn't go then either.  Her actual birthday was Monday, the 7th, and I decided that Nathan and I were going to surprise her - I knew we were healthy!  It's only two hours away, so we headed out that morning.  Unfortunately, the gmen couldn't miss school and DH had to work.   

 

I called her while at the bottom of their driveway to find out where she was and where my Dad was, and then told her I had to go because I had just arrived at "the store."

Dad was by the garage and getting ready to go into the house, so we followed him in.  She knew someone had come, but didn't know who and was surprised to see it was Nathan and I - it worked!

Dad had bought her a cake since I wasn't sure we were coming until that morning, otherwise I would have made her one.

 

Of course we had to have our picture taken together, that's a rule at their house.  Dad's rule that is!

 Mom got some beautiful things - a figurine of Jesus with the children,

and because Dad thought Mom's chapel needed a little something on the outside, he got her this statue of Jesus.

Bye Mom/Oma, hope to see you in a couple of weeks.  Hope you had a wonderful birthday, we love you!

A Welcome and Pinterest Apple Pie

A warm dragon welcome is long overdue to those who have chosen to follow me down the crazy blogging path!  So glad you decided to join in on the fun.  If I've missed taking a peek and following your blog, please let me know.  It looks like some of you don't have a blog, but maybe you do and I missed it?

 

 

Gammy said she was going to make dinner tonight while we were watching the Redskins game, so I was on for dessert.  I asked the boys what they wanted and Garrett decided on apple pie.  I was originally being lazy and asked him if apples from a can would be okay - that would be a no!  So this is the recipe I found on Pinterest, Grandma Ople's Apple Pie.  And he did redeem himself in the kitchen, he used the apple peeler/corer/slicer on all the apples and helped with the "sauce".

 

 

*My take on Grandma Ople's Apple Pie?  Delish, it's a keeper!  I changed it up a bit after reading some of the comments - adding cinnamon/sugar to the apples before putting them in the pie pan and instead of a lattice topping, I cut out footballs with a cookie cutter and placed them on top.  The "sauce" made the footballs nice and crunchy!

*Others take on the apple pie?  Well, I think it's almost gone!  Garrett had two pieces and Gammy really liked it too.

  *Would I make it again?  Oh, yes!  I don't think I'd do the lattice at all, I'll use whatever cookie cutter suits the event instead.

"Old" Friends, New Treasures

Ignore me, I was dressed for punk day at school in the '80's - but how adorable is this little chick?  This is Karen, a sweetheart of a little girl who has turned into a wonderful, wonderful friend.  Nathan and I went to visit her last summer, here's our adventure.


This was in her early stages of crafting, I still have them after all these years.

Now that she's all grown up, she's gotten a little more sophisticated in her crafting!  This is what I received from her for my Christmas goodies -
this amazing beaded bracelet, I love it!  The colours in it look like it goes with anything, so I'll be able to wear it a lot.  I make bracelets too, but nothing like this, very dainty!

And this is a wonderful wrap with a dragon on one pocket and my initial on the other.  Another love!  I know it looks pink in the bottom picture, but it's actually a beautiful coral.  Now I don't have to wear my robe all day to stay warm!

 

Even Nathan got a treat from his four legged buddy, Henry.  It's candy cane dust, and I think we'll be making vanilla ice cream today to try it out - yum!

Now this beauty is not mine, but one she made if for her Mom for Christmas.  It's Dasher and you know what comes next... Dancer, Prancer...

I think she did a fantastic job and she said her Mom cried when she opened it.  No surprise, I would too!

 

Now where are her gifts from me?  Silly question, I still have to "finish" it and send it.  It's actually done but not finished and I'm not quite sure how I want to do it.  That's always the hardest part for me.  Anyway, I will be working on that this week.  Be patient, Karen, I hope it will be worth the wait!  Thank you so much for my gifts, I will treasure them always.  Love you girlfriend, can't wait until we can our crafty selves together again.

December TUSAL (imagine, in January)

Since this is technically the TUSAL for 2012, does it really dash my "resolution" to be on time posting for 2013?! 

 

Before Christmas, DJ and I were in Michaels and I bought a clear ornament to fill with my TUSAL trash threads, like the one I bought last year.  I just spend an entire evening looking for it and couldn't find it anywhere.  So I went back to Michaels looking through all the Christmas leftovers and couldn't find a one, bummed!  Then I was in Target and found this instead.  The back is a solid colour, with a snowflake in front.  I know you can't see the threads very well, but I didn't have as many as last year anyway - oops!

 

So here it is next to last year's ornament, and the dragon, of course!

If you are interested in joining in on the TUSAL fun, check it out here - Daffycat's TUSAL.